Category Archives: 2025:RTW-Taiwan

Back into Tea-Country

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I had a slow start today, having a late and slow breakfast (or brunch) in a cafe (and sitting in the dry during a massive downpour) – in the early afternoon I joined a tour for some more insights around my favorite plant: camelia sinensis.

The tour covered the one hour trip up into the mountains South-East of Taipei – and to the Thousand-Islands-Lake, a reservoir that holds a good part of Taipei’s drinking water reserves.

We had two short walks to viewpoints – unfortunately during major rain – so, those were quick indeed. Views were good though – possibly better (as in more atmospheric) than on a normal sunny day. From the viewpoints we continued to the village of Pinglin for a proper tea tasting and a visit of the tea museum. Overall a great way to spend a day for a tea fan.

On to Taiwan …

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I had a leisurely Wednesday, leaving Daegu in the afternoon to make  my way over to Incheon Airport. After a night in an airport hotel, it was time for the quick jump over to Taipei on Thursday. I got here in the late afternoon – in time for a first nightmarket dinner and a bit of evening exploration around town.

I had been to Taiwan before – including Taipei – so, no pressure here to get all the sights in (as those were essentially already  done years back).

2025 Travel Introduction

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This year will be a special travel year for me – as I will have the opportunity to be on the road for a slight bit longer, filling a few gaps on my world map (yes, they exist) and ticking off some items from my bucket list.

Key item on that bucket list is a full trip around the world – with a proper round-the-world ticket (I went for the Star Alliance one) – doing a full circle round the globe with a number of stops on the way. Stops obviously are at those gaps on my world map … and while there is only one new country (Panama), lots of new ground will be covered:

  • Washington, DC – National Mall and museums (Mar-07 until -10)
  • Panama – partial transit through the canal on a ship (Mar-10 until -15)
  • San Francisco – friendly stop-over (Mar-15 until -26)
  • Japan – Northern Honshu and Hokkaido (arriving in Tokyo Mar-27, leaving Sapporo Apr-30)
  • Korea – Seoul, Andong, Gyeongju, Busan and Daegu (Apr-30 until May-15)
  • Taiwan – the North (May-15 until -19)
  • Malaysia – the peninsula (so far I have mainly covered Borneo), Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh (May-19 until -30)
  • Bavaria – family stop-over (May-31 until Jun-9)

As time is no concern at this point, I have added organized trips before and after that trip around the world:

  • kicking it off with two weeks hiking on the Cape Verde islands (Feb-10 until -25), find the itinerary here
  • and heading back to India in June (now heading for the far North of the country, Jun-19 until Jul-11), find the itinerary here