TAIWAN | Sunday, 13 Oct 2019 | Views [553]
IT’S BEEN TWO MONTHS SINCE THE MAASDAM was forced to retreat before Typhoon Francisco. Since then Japan has weathered Typhoons Krosa, Faxi, Tapah and Mitag. Now Typhoon Hagibis, the most powerful storm in 60 years, is hammering the ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Saturday, 12 Oct 2019 | Views [503]
IN MY NOT-REALLY-SO-HUMBLE OPINION, Taiwan has a lot in common with Arkansas. Or North Dakota. The world-class National Palace Museum is certainly worth a visit if your are in Taipei but unless you are on a business trip or, like us, are ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Friday, 11 Oct 2019 | Views [512]
I WISH I COULD SAY THAT YUAN FANG Homestay was a marvelous place and the highlight of our stay in Taiwan, that it gave us true insight into life in Taiwan. The truth is that even if we could have found it on our own, there were no signs in English ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Wednesday, 9 Oct 2019 | Views [557]
OCTOBER ISN’T THE BEST MONTH FOR BIRDING in Taiwan. Nevertheless, we have been following birding tour trip reports for locations where local species have been reported recently. As it turns out, “recently” is a relative ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Friday, 4 Oct 2019 | Views [531]
CONNIE SETS OUR COURSE AND AS OFTEN as not she selects birding hotspots. Where we will lay our heads each night is up to me. Bird sightings, as it turns out, are not just a factor of where birds congregate, but also of where people congregate.... Read more >
TAIWAN | Thursday, 3 Oct 2019 | Views [498]
THE TROPICAL STORM WAS A FIZZLE, DESPITE the dire forecast and we were ready to leave Taipei. The 5201 Airport Bus left on schedule and dropped us off at the Avis counter. They tried hard but maybe they’ll try a little harder next ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Sunday, 29 Sep 2019 | Views [568]
CONNIE REMEMBERS DITCHING A BUSINESS MEETING in 1988 to visit the National Palace Museum, the highlight of any visit to Taipei. It took us three trains and a bus to get there today — plus a little help from some locals — but only $5 ... Read more >
TAIWAN | Saturday, 28 Sep 2019 | Photo Gallery
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TAIWAN | Saturday, 28 Sep 2019 | Views [606]
IT WAS RAINING WHEN WE SAID “SAYONARA” to Japan and it was still raining when we said “Ni hau” to Taiwan. Another tropical storm, would you believe? Taiwan's proximity to Ishigaki coupled with a time change meant ... Read more >
JAPAN | Thursday, 26 Sep 2019 | Views [514]
I JUST FINISHED READING THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING , Bill Bryson’s hilarious account of his second foray to “discover” Britain. Bryson is a walker. His destinations are often the birthplaces, gravesites and stomping ... Read more >
JAPAN | Sunday, 22 Sep 2019 | Views [591]
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES. The rain has stopped, the wind has died down and the sky has patches of blue. Typhoon Tapah left behind some scattered palm fronds, more rubbish along the high-tide line and empty store shelves. One Family ... Read more >
JAPAN | Friday, 20 Sep 2019 | Views [576]
WHAT BEGAN AS ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN SHOWERS accompanied by strong, gusting winds graduated from a tropical depression to tropical storm Tapah and may even — or already have — become a typhoon. It's hard to tell since internet weather ... Read more >
JAPAN | Wednesday, 18 Sep 2019 | Views [523]
ORCHIDS LINING THE WALKWAY TO BAGGAGE CLAIM give the impression that Okinawa is an island paradise. Outside the airport the reality, at least through my eyes, is something less. Okinawa is the island of “cube cars” of all makes ... Read more >
JAPAN | Tuesday, 17 Sep 2019 | Photo Gallery
Okinawa, Miyakojima and Ishigaki
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JAPAN | Monday, 16 Sep 2019 | Views [653]
THE CLOUDS OVER KOKURA JAPAN HAD A SILVER LINING on that August morning in 1945. Bad luck for the residents of Nagasaki, though. Kokura had drawn the short straw and was the primary target for the world’s second nuclear bomb. ... Read more >
JAPAN | Sunday, 15 Sep 2019 | Views [584]
NAGASAKI’S DORMY INN WAS A WELCOME SIGHT, visible as it was from the #5 Airport Bus stop at Shinchi. It was after ten, we had been traveling all day and hadn’t eaten since lunch. ANA, All Nippon Airways, was affordable, efficient ... Read more >
JAPAN | Saturday, 14 Sep 2019 | Photo Gallery
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JAPAN | Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 | Views [604]
OCHIISHI NATURE CRUISES SAIL ONLY ON WEEKENDS. Their website is so poorly translated from Japanese that we had to drive all the way to Ochiishi to get the bad news. This would have been our last chance to get a good look at a spectacled ... Read more >
JAPAN | Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 | Views [642]
ONSEN IS JAPANESE FOR A HOT SPRING but it can also be a spa. Or in the case of Akan Onsen, an entire town. Akan Onsen sits on a lake which was formerly the caldera of a volcano and where Connie hoped to see Japanese waxwings. We passed ... Read more >
JAPAN | Saturday, 7 Sep 2019 | Views [720]
BROWN BEARS—GRIZZLIES TO US YANKS—were on everyone's minds. Scores of weekend visitors—I didn’t realize it was Saturday until I saw the buses—hoped to see one of Shiretoko National Park’s Yezo brown bears. ... Read more >
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