Taiwan
    
This 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year, I spent three weeks with Royceton while staying at a friend’s place right by Taipei Station. From there, we headed to 宜蘭、羅東、九份、十分、烏來. The goal of this trip was not all about sightseeing. It was about returning to simplicity, letting nature do the teaching. Hope Royceton can see a different world and appreciate misty mornings, mountain air, quiet streets, and the gentle rhythm of small towns.

At Shifen (十分), we sent our wishes up to the guardian above, hoping for love and happiness, and the bless journey ahead.


Wulai (乌来) is a simple village, and we enjoyed its quieter, purer way of life.

Taipei 101 stands right beside Si‑Si Nan Village (四四南村), a preserved village with low old houses, courtyards, and a very nostalgic atmosphere.


We wandered up and down the stairways and narrow alleys, exploring every corner of the Jiufen (九份) hillside.

Eventually, we counted down at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall  (中山紀念館), where we had a spectacular, unobstructed view of the fireworks lighting up the night sky.


Wulai was the first time I ever dipped into hot spring water bubbling straight up from the riverbed. It felt raw, natural, and unforgettable.

XiMenDing (西门町) — a vibrant maze of street shopping, youth culture, and a joyful celebration of diversity.


Chiang Kai‑shek Memorial Hall consists of three large Chinese characters above the statue: Ethics, Democracy, Science (倫理、民主、科學)

It’s how we welcomed 2026 — standing in the open grounds of Sun Yat‑sen Memorial Hall, watching Taipei 101 erupt into fireworks against the night sky. We entered the park around 10 p.m., waiting for the moment the new year burst into light.


Free shuttle buses were arranged to take everyone to metro stations farther from the crowds, and we managed to make it back to our Taipei Station home before 1 a.m. We were tired but happy to have created this lasting memories.

We were on the 89th floor of Taipei 101, taking in the sweeping view of the city.


Royceton celebrated with his new Teddiursa, a souvenir from Taipei 101 pokemon center.

We can see both Sun Yat‑sen Memorial Hall and the Taipei Dome.


The place at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall where we watched the countdown firework.

Ximending (西门町) Pedestrian Area — often called the Harajuku of Taipei — is a youth culture area filled with shops, cafés, street arts.


The historic Ximen Red House (红楼) — dating back to 1908. Originally built during the Japanese era as a public market and theater complex. Now it is a creative hub filled with artisan shops.

Taipei pokemon center


The guard parade was a joke


Royceton's treasures from pokemon center...


Local boutique.


Riding bike at river front.


Raohe Street Night Market.


Dihua Street (迪化街) — the oldest street in Taipei — beautifully preserved century‑old architecture of traditional shophouses, herbal medicine stores, fabric shops...


Songshan Ciyou Temple (松山慈祐宮) — the ornate, brightly lit temple that stands right at the entrance of the Raohe Night Market.


National Palace Museum holds a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of artifacts and artworks.


National Taiwan Museum. This Land Bank Exhibition Hall is a Dinosaur Museum. 


One of the most popular artifacts in the museum is the Jadeite Cabbage, but the signature one was on tour during the time we visited, so we didn’t get to see the original masterpiece on display.


Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the renowned Southern Song Dynasty philosopher. This exhibit shows his rare large-character calligraphy,
Anthology of Works, which features excerpts from The Book of Changes.

The ivory ball is a Qing‑dynasty masterpiece, consisting of 18 nested, movable spheres, each carved from a single piece of ivory and able to rotate independently.


The Grand Empress asked her grandson, the Emperor Kangxi, to commission the transcription of Kangxi Kangyur in gold ink, which comprises 108 cases of manuscripts and took eight years to complete. It was believed the transcript extended the prosperity of Kangxi era.

These mosaic‑style jade pieces reflect the Qing court’s taste for opulent, multi‑material craftsmanship.


Golden bowl of the Qianlong Emperor, a gift from a Xinjiang Prince. Inside the foot ring is the inscription "乾隆御用",  meaning “For the Imperial Use of the Qianlong Emperor.

永和豆浆, a classic Taiwanese breakfast shop, famous for hot soy milk, youtiao, egg crepes, rice rolls, etc. Here is where we started everyday.


YuanShan Garden (圓山花博園區) became a Christmas Market. Overall, we just eat eat eat eat eat.

Royceton’s daily breakfast -- Xiaolongbao, freshly steamed dumplings.


We had sashimi at 上引水产.

A must try bubble tea.


Shilin Night Market. Yum.

Nick, Roxy, Malcolm and Elodie are in Taipei home.


So we met up and played small games at night market.

Freshly home made dumplings dinner for new year's eve. Thank you, Ferny, for offering your Taipei station home for us. <3


This is where we spent 10 nights. Also a place where Royceton slept through the 7.7 earthquake.
   
JiuFeng (九份)  

This tiny alley way is the entrance to JiuFeng. Historically JiuFeng was a gold‑mining settlement.


Then later transformed into a cultural hub with preserved Japanese‑era architecture, narrow lanes, and traditional shops.

A‑Mei Teahouse (阿妹茶樓)
 


The iconic photo spot of Jiufeng.


JiuFeng is famous for inspiring the atmosphere of Oscar winning animation "Spirited Away".


Thanks to our guide, we had wandered the steep lanes going up and down along the hillside.
 

ShiFen (十分)

  

One of our most meaningful moments in Taiwan was sending a sky lantern in Shifen.


Standing on the old railway tracks, we sent our wishes for LOVE, happiness and safe journey ahead.

It was just 15 second, yet everything felt still. We watched our wishes drifting higher into the sky until it dissolved into the clouds.


Here is the wish of an 8 yo boy.

   
Yilan & Luodong (宜兰 . 罗东)

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 2025, we spent our time in Yilan and Luodong, seeking the simplicity of life and the quiet beauty that nature offers. That day, we rode an electrical bike alongside the magnificent shore of MeiHua Lake (梅花湖), letting the calm water, gentle breeze and light rain to guide our pace.

We also went to an outdoor hot-spring (森林风吕) twice, embracing the nature.


It was a lovely time with the nature.

I really enjoyed the way nature and openness come together in the hot-spring.


Also we booked a accommodation with our own private hot-spring.


Luodong used to be a thriving lumber town, so we visited the old lumber museum together with its preserved lodging trains.


At the simple town, we played simple games. Happiness can be really simple.

We enjoyed our time at the LuoDong night market.


Royceton had caught hundreds of fish.

"Me driving the electric bike as we whizzed past everyone else......"


We also visited a local animal farm. "me feeding a capybara."

Feeding a deer, goats,


kangaroo and more

2025 has quietly come to an end. I still remember that it was ten years ago when I last visited Yilan. Back then I was young, and work was my main anchor — almost my entire identity. It was in Yilan that I first understood the meaning of 本来无一物 — that all the pride, ego, and noise I carried didn’t actually mean anything. Now, returning to this old place, I’m grateful. Grateful to revisit the place with a different heart, and to see how much I’ve grown in these ten years. I am now someone who can finally appreciate simplicity, presence, and the quiet truth of life.

 
Wulai (乌来)

Wulai is just an hour from Taipei, yet it feels like a complete escape—into real nature, where forests, hot springs, and waterfalls replace the noise of the city. From our hotel room, this was the view: a soft white sea of clouds drifting past the balcony, as if we were floating inside the mountains ourselves.

Wulai is a small mountain town, and the Wulai Waterfall is its major tourist attraction. But what had created raw and lasting memory for us is something wetter and quieter.


During our walk along the river, we saw people soaking directly in the riverbed. Then we realize it is the real hot spring water rising naturally from the earth.

Wulai is the homeland of the Atayal indigenous people. Among all the street food we tried, the sausages were our favorite. 


The hot spring water is boiling. The locals mix in the river water to bring it down to a comfortable 36–42 degrees, creating natural pools shaped by sandbags.


Another attraction in Wulai is the little forest railway that once carried logs from deep in the mountains to the transport hub.


We ended up playing along the river and soaking in the hot spring for nearly three hours.

Today it’s a short scenic ride for us to feel Wulai's history in the wooden carts and the narrow tracks winding through the trees.


The museum showcased the rise and fall of Wulai’s industries, from logging to its transformation into a tourism town.

The town center of Wulai is so small that it’s essentially just one street. You can walk from one end to the other in about ten minutes.


As it was raining, Royceton hid in this shop for half an hour. Simply it is TWD100 for a toy on the wall, while you can play these oldie games.


Along the way, we tried the local indigenous food, like pastry, dessert, fruit juice, etc..


We stayed in a hotel about a fifteen‑minute walk from the town center so we could be closer to nature.   

The hotel had its own public onsen, but by then we had already spent so much time playing in the river and soaking in the natural hot spring.


Yet Royceton had a very nice time watching cartoons such as '蜡笔小新', '樱桃小丸子', and '我们这一家'. Suppose it is also a happy memory.
 
As we enter into 2026, I am foreseeing changes. I’ll be spending some time in Vancouver. The economy there is weak, London is worse, and Hong Kong is not much better. I can only hope my cash flows will support my nomadic life style. If not, I’ll need to create new cash‑flow ideas. Making money has never been easy — maybe the real lesson is learning to live simply.

At my current life stage, I must appreciate what I still have good health, the ability to move, to explore, to enjoy life with my son. For the next five years, I hope I can still have fun, still stay curious, still stay alive in spirit.
 

 

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