Martin's personal blog Comments

A frog goes hiking: 合歡山 (He huan shan) - Day 1

roundTAIWANround — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:24:48 +0000

Hi there,
I live in Taiwan and I love Hehuanshan so much. I've been to Hehuanshan and hiked 4 times a year before. It's so beautiful and gorgeous. Next time, if there is next time, please try Little Chilai trail. Little Chilai trail (小奇萊步道) entrance is in front of Ski Villa (滑雪山莊). A 1.3 kilometers trail is about 4-hour return hike. Through Taiwan White Fir forest and Arrow Bamboo grove, coming into sight is multi-layer mountains, like rise and fall waves of ocean. Standing on the highest point, 3,150 meters, looking back and one can see Hehuanshan. In good weather condition, Yushan (玉山), the highest mountain in Taiwan, is able to be seen.
http://roundtaiwanround.tumblr.com/post/13706448985/little-chilai-trail
Also at night, thousands of stars in the sky. Can't resits to keep pressing camera shutter.
http://roundtaiwanround.tumblr.com/post/13683333078/shimenshan

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Martin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:23:59 +0000

Thanks for the link, it made for some interesting reading. I especially recognized myself in the part about yelling at reckless truck drivers. ;-) Anyway, it looks like during those few weeks you got about as much biking done as I do in a year's time, so no need to feel bad about not having spent more time there!

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Norm — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:19:17 +0000

Nice, thanks for sharing. I spent 6+ weeks in Taiwan with my wife/daughter this winter and brought the road bike with me. Most of that was in Ilan County, (Luodong is where we stayed much of the trip). I did a lot of that kind of climbing when I was there, up into the hills, up that river on one side and back the other side. Up some seldom traveled quarry roads. The landscape pictures make me a little sad I can't spend more time there. I'm currently sitting in a big building in NYC wishing I was there now and could spend the fall there riding. Maybe some day. If interested I blogged about my stay there, check the link I posted with my comment.

Norm

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Martin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:44:37 +0000

Thanks, guys. The trip was great fun indeed. Luckily the brain only remembers the good moments and not the sore points, so I'm sure it won't be long until the next challenge. :-)

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Richard — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:37:32 +0000

Wonderful biking journey.

Brought me back to the 2-biking days, especially the picture Sonic, Ray and me were heading to the hills before 明池. Those days were hot, tough, and a bit cray. However, the memory is sweet.

I like the picture Sonic looking at the bikes within deeply thinking and the comment Martin made.

Looking forward to the coming biking with you all.

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Ray — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 07:23:40 +0000

Nice journey~
It's really nice to bike with you.

and when i saw the one you descirbe 明池, I laughed~
but 明 means bright not really clear~ in the sunshin, every lake or pound are bright ~
hahaha....

Looking forward our next bike trip... but ... one day is enough~

兩日雙北 (Two days, two cross-island highways)

Sonic — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:48:23 +0000

Pretty Good. We are waiting for next challenge. But I am not a crazy guy.

Switzerland 2011: Matzlenfurggelen

Rublis — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:52:13 +0000

The bird seen on several pictures is a falcon

Switzerland 2011: Flora and fauna

Rublis — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:49:33 +0000

This mountain is named Medergenfluh! There's a bit of Tiejerfluh seen on the right.

A frog goes hiking: 單攻玉山 (Yu shan one-day trip)

Martin — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:50:21 +0000

Don't worry, with that amount of training you'll be fine. I found the hike to be harder on the joints than on the muscles. I had pretty sore knees when I got down but no sore muscles in the days after the hike. Make sure you pack hiking poles and knee protection to make the descent more bearable.

I packed too much food and water. I had packed enough water (4-5 liters) in anticipation for good weather and ended up drinking less than half of it. 排雲山莊 normally has water but since they're renovating that may not be the case right now (I didn't ask). Try calling the national park office to ask if you're not sure.

Other than food and water just pack the usual hiking equipment, in particular rain gear. I used most of my clothes at one time or another; not because it was particularly cold, simply because of the constant fog and drizzle.

A frog goes hiking: 單攻玉山 (Yu shan one-day trip)

Ellen Long — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:00:36 +0000

Thank you so much for answering my questions about transportation. I have two other questions about physical fitness and what to pack. In what shape were your teammates and how did you train? How fit would you say I would need to be to do this comfortably? I comfortably run 10K about 2-3 times a week as well as bike over 100K a week. Lastly, what did you pack for this hike? Are there any water sources along the route?
Congrats on your achievement!

A frog goes hiking: 單攻玉山 (Yu shan one-day trip)

Martin — Sat, 14 May 2011 06:39:09 +0000

That depends where you start. If you stay overnight in the 東埔山莊 you can simply walk there. It's a paved road and it will take you about an hour. You can't drive a car inside because a few hundred meters after the parking lot there's a police station with a gate. It's half-closed at night, so you can walk through but not drive in. Not sure about bike or scooter, you might need to ask them.

If you arrive from somewhere else you can simply drive your car or ride your scooter to the parking lot and walk from there. It'll take about 40-50 minutes to the trail head.

Finally, the 東埔山莊 does offer some transportation, but it's quite expensive and may not suit your timetable, especially if you're alone.

As for going solo 玉山 is probably okay because there are always quite a lot of people and it's virtually impossible to get lost because of the many trail signs. However, as you certainly know, the mountains can be a dangerous place, so at least make sure people know about your exact plans and bring a cell phone - there's a signal for the better part of the hike. Better yet, try to find someone to join you! :-)

A frog goes hiking: 單攻玉山 (Yu shan one-day trip)

Ellen Long — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:09:47 +0000

Thank you so much for posting this. I'm planning on doing a one day hike as well after I train. I will be going solo (can't find anyone else with the time or fitness). Can you give some suggestions as to the easiest way to get the trail head? Will I need my own transportation? I would like a 2 or 3am start so I have plenty of time to get down. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again!

A frog goes hiking: 合歡山 (He huan shan) - Day 1

Jonis — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:50:28 +0000

Hi there

What a beautiful hike it seems. I lived in Taiwan for 4 years and I've done only one hike. What a shame. It's gonna take some time you guys complete the hundred peak list. Fingers crossed here in Slovakia so you make it. Cheers

Chocolate and pizza and chocolate

matt — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:29:08 +0000

Victor and everyone at Bon Appetit are doing a great job serving high quality (by any standard) italian food to the public of Hsinchu. As a professionally trained chef with 5 years of work experience in real italian restaurants I can say that this place would survive in the pickiest of restaurant towns. Their pizza is the jewel in the crown but their fresh made soups and pastas are all excellent and inventive. Even the latte I had after my excellent meal last night of pumpkin soup, brushetta, bolognese and tira misu was made brilliantly. Kudos to everyone at Bon Appetit for making my life here in Taiwan that much more bearable!

Tiramisu and the masters of the blue tiger

Swards (Rebecca`s bro ) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:57:14 +0000

Indeed , this is really a "cheap copy" tiramisu , because they are alike ,so we dont know what is real ,maybe you can make a real one , i can buy it. otherwise ,the bullshit story is very bullshit ; the "BLUE TIGER" meaning is funny .

Bird cam

Martin Rubli — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:43:37 +0000

It's true! And with a heart beat of more than 1000 bpm not a big surprise. According to Wikipedia they "... consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight." What a life and a true miracle of evolution!

Bird cam

Loic — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:08:04 +0000

I heard hummingbirds are super not-efficient because of all the energy it takes up to do their stationary flights. A bit like a gas-guzzling GMC car :-)

A basket of joy

Patrick — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:29:36 +0000

Sadly, this is a KDE-centric monster. Since I use Gnome (and damned if I'll change), when Ubuntu's Synaptic informed me that I'd have to install a boatload of other KDEish nonsense including kmail (no, no, God no! I use Thunderbird), I regretfully had to pass. What a shame as this does look like an otherwise well done program.

The promised land

Martin — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:53:47 +0000

I always joked it would only be a matter of time before I would see a former colleague in a tea shop. But I would have bet good money that it would be in Taiwan, not in the US. :-) I have to check out his shop next time I'm in the Bay Area!

As far as your question goes: I wish (and I bet so do you) I had a more interesting answer than "it shows up on half the tea shop menus out there". ;-)

We certainly hope to have you back in Taiwan one day! In the meantime the best of luck in California!