Kyoto
Japan travel
Travel

Kyoto’s Kiyomizudera and Nanzenji temples

Kyoto is a city full of historic temples, old neighborhoods and shrines. You can easily spend days there visiting different districts each day and still not covering all of Kyoto’s many sights. One of Kyoto’s most distinctive temples is Kiyomizudera Temple, located on a hill in the east. Outside the temple is a historic neighborhood […]

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China
China travel
Travel

Visiting Datong Grottoes in Shanxi, China

While Shanxi Province may be better known as the dusty, polluted coal-producing center of China, it is also one of the country’s oldest areas of civilization. The coal city of Datong in Shanxi was a former capital of the Northern Wei dynasty, a Xianbei (Mongolian) regime which ruled much of northern China from 386-535 AD […]

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Cover of Indonesia Etc
Book reviews
Books

Book review- Indonesia Etc

Completely made up of islands, and thus the world’s largest archipelago nation, Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation and fourth most populous, as well as Southeast Asia’s largest economy. But for such a huge, diverse country, Indonesia is still obscure to the world other than Bali. Elisabeth Pisani decided to do something about this by […]

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Book reviews
Books
China

Book review- The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China

China is a large country with an area of 3.7 million square miles and, though the majority Han ethnic group make up 90% of its population, has over 50 ethnic groups. As a result, beyond the heavily-populated Han-majority provinces with teeming megacities and factory zones, there is a lot of ethnic and cultural diversity on […]

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Hikes
Taiwan
Taiwan travel

Hiking- Taking in Taipei 101

Taipei’s skyline has long been dominated by one building, Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest buildings. Nowadays, it still is but it’s got company in the form of the Nan Shan Plaza and at least another skyscraper is under construction in the area. The best way to get an up-close view of Taipei 101 […]

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Frankfurt skyscrapers
Cities
Europe travel
Germany travel
Travel

City travel-Frankfurt finale

Frankfurt might be better known as a business hub than a tourist hotspot, so not many travelers visit this city, unless they are on a business trip. I was flying back to Taiwan from Frankfurt at the end of my Europe trip so I had to visit Frankfurt. And it wasn’t bad at all. The […]

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Travel

Why traveling solo is great

Ever since I started traveling as an adult, I’ve mostly done it solo. By now, it’s like second nature to go on a trip by myself to foreign countries and explore cities, historical sites, or travel around. I enjoy this a lot and I hardly feel lonely or strange. While solo travel seems to have […]

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