Mount Moiwa and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art

Mount Moiwas is 532m above sea level. My walk to the top started from the same location as the Maruyama walk a couple of days ago. This was twice the height. There were more people on the walk but it wasn’t that busy. Hikers are very friendly: everyone says hello to you (“konichiwa”). There were … Continue reading / view photos Mount Moiwa and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art

A hike, a shrine, and the red-light district

On the Alltrails hiking website, I found a few hikes around Sapporo. Since I’d started late, I chose one of the shorter ones that would give me views of the city and whose start could easily be reached. A reviewer of the walk commented that they wished they’d done the walk in reverse because there … Continue reading / view photos A hike, a shrine, and the red-light district

Baegundae Peak

Samgaksan is the highest mountain in the chain of mountains to the north of Seoul and consists of three high peaks named Baegundae (836m), Insubong (810m) and Mangyeongdae (787m). When people saw the mountain from a particular location, it looked like three horns. These three peaks were collectively named Samgaksan (literally ‘three-horned mountain’). You can … Continue reading / view photos Baegundae Peak

Haeparang coastal trail

There’s a scenic linear coastal path that starts at the south-western end of the “Diamond Bridge”. I took the metro to get close to the start then walked the rest of the way. It was a lovely sunny day and being a weekday, there weren’t that many people doing it. On this walk, in contrast … Continue reading / view photos Haeparang coastal trail

Monsters and Dragons

My friend and I met, coincidently, where the tram terminated the previous day — at Shau Kei Wan, the east-end of Hong Kong Island. From there, we took a minibus to the beginning of our walk, called the Dragon’s Back. The minibus we took is renowned for going fast. It was like being in a … Continue reading / view photos Monsters and Dragons

Taroko Gorge

I bought a two-day bus pass at the central bus station, which was next to the train station. The staff at the station were helpful. I decided, on the bus journey, that I would take the bus to the terminus, which was the highest point in the gorge the bus reached. This would give me, … Continue reading / view photos Taroko Gorge

Monkey mountain

Kaohsiung has a national park on its doorstep. Shoushan National Park was about 45 minutes away from where I was staying. I’d found some hikes online and decided to do one. At some point I needed to take the light railway, which was walking distance from my hostel. On the way, I popped into the … Continue reading / view photos Monkey mountain

Astray in amazing Alishan

I would have preferred to stay in Alishan, but accommodation is difficult to find and it’s expensive. I therefore stayed in Fenqihu. My hostel owner said she’d drive me to Shizhao an adjacent town, at 8am to get the bus to Alishan. When we arrived at the bus stop, I could see something wasn’t quite … Continue reading / view photos Astray in amazing Alishan

Yangmingshan National Park

I found it alien that you could take a bus from central Taipei and, an hour later, be surrounded by mountains. Yangmingshan National Park has many trails and hikes for people of all abilities. Determining the bus to take was confusing since everything I read said get the “red 5 bus” to Yangmingshan bus terminal. … Continue reading / view photos Yangmingshan National Park

The Great Torii Gate of Miyajima

The shinkansen took us quickly to Hiroshima. Since we weren’t staying in the centre, we had to take a local train to Hiroshima Bay. We were staying at a homestay (someone’s house) because we wanted to hike up Mount Misen on a nearby island, Miyajima (also known as Itsukusima). The following day, our host drove … Continue reading / view photos The Great Torii Gate of Miyajima