This month’s throwback to ten-years-ago contains photos from my first trip to Taiwan, in March 2013 (who would’ve thought?!). We spent 2 1/2 weeks or so visiting Shuwen’s family, met some of her friends, and visited many really, really beautiful places, primarily in the interior part of Taiwan, Nantou County, where the higher elevation’s cooler temperatures are a refuge from the stifling humidity of the lowlands. Sunny days on the forest trails would abruptly be ended by dense fog, which was quite a treat, of course.
Embarrassingly, I still have some photos in my folder from this trip that I haven’t thoroughly evaluated and developed. I was hoping that I’d manage to get this done in time for the monthly throwback, and perhaps “throw in” one of the other newly found hidden gem, but surprise — it doesn’t look like too many (or any?) of those might exist! 😅
If I’ll manage to unearth them, I might put together a “Taiwan Leftovers” gallery… but now that this March 2013 Throwback “deadline” has passed, will I ever manage to do that? I guess we’ll find out…
Anyway, here are some of the photos from this trip that I still like very much! The “Street Kitchen” looks pretty much like an outlier, and I agree… but I made a lot of “street photography” photos on that trip, switching the camera to black & white mode and JPEG only (blasphemy?!?) which took some of the pressure out of the process… and this is one of those photos. I still have very found memories of these delicious street kitchen breakfast dumplings with warm soy milk and included more information with the photo (visible in the lightbox when you click on it, or here: Street Kitchen, Nantou). 😁
Bamboo lattice, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. March 2013.
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Hiking path with red rails on a narrow ridge, Tianzhong Forest Park, Taiwan; March 2013.
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"Tree of Life" at Cihen Pagoda (Sun Moon Lake), Nantou County, Taiwan. March 2013.
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Taro leaves at the foot of a tree in subtropical forest near Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. March 2013.
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Two women prepare steamed buns at a streetside breakfast kitchen in Nantou, Taiwan; March 2013.
Colorful bamboo (high key false color rendition), Nantou, Taiwan; March 2013.
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Lush green vegetation glowing green in a dry ravine in sweltering subtropical forest at Shan Lin Xi, Nantou, Taiwan. March 2013.
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Foggy subtropical forest and pond, Shan Lin Xi, Taiwan; March 2013.
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Top view onto taro and giant ferns at the forest floor from the skywalk at Xi Tou, Taiwan. March 2013.
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Bamboo forest, Xi Tou forest, Nantou, Taiwan; March 2013.
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Beautiful photos Alex! they remind me of my trip to the Huangshan mountains near Shanghai in 2013. I still go back to those images every once in awhile and see them with a different eye. Wish I could go back. But these are truly captivating.
Thanks, Jodie. Funny coincidence that you’ve been there in 2013!
Hi Alex, I love the high key bamboo photo – very effective. I like the first bamboo photo very much, too, and the Sweltering Forest. The idea to use B&W jpeg setting for street photos is interesting and I can imagine why you enjoyed that little restaurant. I used to love getting baozi in NYC’s Chinatown. ‘Red Rails’ shows the beauty of the way red can be used in the landscape – so effective in Chinese and Japanese gardens.