Travel on Lin's Blog

WoW Tainan Backpacker Hostel - A Tainan Youth Hostel Recommendation

Sat, 08 Apr 2017 15:06:21 +0000

On this trip to Tainan, I had originally planned to stay at Chengyi Light Travel, which I’d had a great experience with last time. But I never expected that beds in Tainan would be so hard to come by over the Qingming long weekend. Still, it worked out well — it gave me the chance to discover an amazing hostel called Wo Tainan WoW Tainan. A happy accident, haha! WoW Tainan is a very local hostel, and its interior design is a lot of fun — that’s the main reason I like it so much. Wandering the corridors, you always stumble across interesting murals; no matter how tired I was, I wanted to walk through the whole building and collect all the different murals. On top of that, it has every facility you could need and is extremely backpacker-friendly!

A Kaohsiung Hostel Designed with Backpackers in Mind - Dwell Hostel

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:27:11 +0000

Whenever I stay at a hostel, my biggest headache is where to put belongings like glasses and watches. If I leave them by the bed, I’m afraid they’ll fall off in the night; if I put them in my backpack, I have to climb down from the top bunk when the alarm goes off, which is a hassle. The place I’m sharing today, Dwell Hostel, is in Kaohsiung’s Sanduo shopping district. Transportation is convenient, and it’s only four stops from Kaohsiung Station. If you get hungry at night, a night market is right downstairs, and the hostel even offers free instant noodles just in case. Most importantly, they’ve thought of all the little details: there’s a small bag by each bed so you can keep your valuables safe, and the front desk sells toothbrushes and other toiletries. This time, for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, I didn’t prepare anything. I grabbed my luggage and rushed to the high-speed rail to Kaohsiung, and only after I got on the train did I realize I had forgotten my toothbrush and towel! Ahhh!!!!! It was so touching that the hostel had them for me!!

A Few Things About Hotel Booking Interfaces

Sat, 25 Feb 2017 16:55:26 +0000

Where do you book hotels? Agoda, Booking.com, or Airbnb? I’m about to travel to Japan, and while going back and forth between booking sites, I noticed many interesting things. For example, why won’t Airbnb offer a review filter when it would be so easy to build? And date selection looks simple, but while booking this trip I saw two different approaches. If you look closely at the interfaces of different booking sites, you’ll find many interesting things!

Why Does the Name Field Always Show a Format Error When Booking Hotels or Flights Online?

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 23:58:49 +0000

I still remember the time Peach had super cheap flights, and I joined everyone in a mad rush. But when I got to the checkout page, the system kept showing “Name format error.” I checked again and again but couldn’t find the problem. Have you had a similar experience? When booking hotels or buying flights online, even though your passport name is entered correctly, the system keeps saying it’s wrong and won’t let you through?

Novel Things I Saw in Japan

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:33:30 +0000

Last year around this time, a few friends and I went to Japan, where we came across many interesting and practical things. In this post I’ll briefly share them. They’re worth a look, and they’re worth reflecting on: why doesn’t Taiwan have them?

Kenting Campsite Notes

Sat, 28 Jan 2017 10:48:53 +0000

A while ago, I went camping in Kenting with friends over New Year’s. While preparing for the trip, I looked through a lot of articles about campsites, so I’ve put together a summary here for everyone’s reference. Most of the information below was compiled from travel notes and Google Maps reviews found online, so it’s for reference only, and I recommend calling the campsite to confirm. If I get the chance to visit again, I’ll update the information. If you have any feedback, I’d welcome it and will revise the notes accordingly.

Stay Review: Light Hostel Tainan, a Budget Backpacker Hostel

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 02:04:23 +0000

I’d written down Light Hostel in my notebook a long time ago, and this trip to Tainan finally gave me a chance to stay there! I was a little wary of budget hostels run as businesses. I was afraid they’d be too commercial and lose the warmth a backpacker hostel should have, and that being so cheap would mean a lot of bad surprises. But Light Hostel completely exceeded my expectations and brought back my love for backpacker hostels!

Dragon Boat Festival Holiday: Saying Goodbye to Traffic Jams - Yilan Edition

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 14:29:03 +0000

It’s been nearly a year since my last article, and I’m finally publishing a new one! During the 2016 Dragon Boat Festival holiday, I’m sure many friends from Taipei will choose Yilan as their first destination. Whether you drive or take a bus, if you go through the Xueshan Tunnel on National Freeway No. 5, it takes only about 40 minutes to reach Yilan if all goes well. Of course, everyone knows that during a holiday like this, things are rarely that smooth… Today I’m going to analyze the traffic patterns of the Xueshan Tunnel so you can avoid the crowds and get to Yilan smoothly! Below there will be a short technical explanation and the analysis process; if you’re not technically inclined, you can jump straight to the conclusion! By the way, I’m in Yilan today, and this article was actually written at the Brown Cafe Castle.

May 29: Cycling from Guandu to Bali~

Tue, 31 May 2011 00:06:51 +0000

This post should have been written yesterday, but yesterday I was too tired from playing all day xD, so it became today’s post. The background is this~ Yesterday I woke up to beautiful weather, with bright sunshine, so I happily went to ride bikes in Tamsui. I was originally planning to ride in Tamsui, but when I crossed the Guandu Bridge, a thought suddenly popped into my head: I’ve ridden in Tamsui many times, but I’ve never ridden in Bali. So the plan changed from a Tamsui trip to a Bali trip XD

6/24 Hualien Trip, Day 3

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:06:09 +0000

Today was the grand finale of my Hualien trip~ And it really was a grand finale. I woke up to bright sunshine outside the hotel, and the weather was perfect xD. I heard that at the same time it was pouring rain in Taipei and Kaohsiung, and the rain in Kaohsiung was so heavy that many shops had closed? I had originally planned to go out and have fun in Kaohsiung on Friday, but my aunt there said it was raining hard and there was nothing fun to do, so I didn’t go. My mom said we would go another time once the rain stopped, and then I could meet up with some internet friends while I was there :D

June 23: Hualien Trip, Day 2

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:34:43 +0000

Today is the second day of the Hualien trip. I got up after 8 a.m., because my mom said we’d go cycling in the morning. The route to Ji-li was the same one we rode in 2004, but it’s very different now. There’s construction everywhere along the roads. I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to visit Hualien wait until the end of the year. I saw signs saying the construction won’t finish until December. If you ride here now, you may have to ride along the roadside and share the road with gravel trucks, which is dangerous. Also, since the hotel offers free bicycles, I simply got them from the hotel. I regretted it afterward. The hotel’s bikes are terrible. I only rode 3 kilometers before my hands got sore (my hands, not my legs = =), and they’re still sore now……….

June 22: Hualien Trip, Day 1

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:41:26 +0000

First, a quick update on where I am right now! I’m in the hotel, writing this on my laptop (the keyboard feels so unfamiliar = =). This is my third time visiting Hualien. The first time was the summer between fourth and fifth grade, when my mom took my younger brother and me on a trip around Taiwan. We spent two months covering the whole island. The second time was for my elementary school graduation trip, which was also to Hualien. That trip was a lot of fun. Normally, school graduation trips go to Nantou, to the 921 Earthquake Museum, Jiuzu Culture Village, and places like that. Going to the same places for elementary school and junior high was really boring. My younger brother’s class went to Nantou for their graduation trip, and then they’ll revisit the same place again in junior high………

The Last Day of Winter Break - A Trip to Taipingshan in Yilan

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:12:57 +0000

Early this morning my mom woke me up and said we were going to play at Taipingshan in Yilan. Originally we’d agreed to go on Saturday so we could stay overnight, but Saturday’s weather still wasn’t good enough = = it was drizzling a bit and the sun never came out, so we had no choice but to go for just one day on Sunday. Otherwise, besides staying a night, we could have seen the sea of clouds. My mom also said that if we were lucky, it would snow on Taipingshan. As it turned out, Taipingshan didn’t get any snow this year — it was Nanhu Mountain next door that had snow, but it’s too far away with mountains in between, so we couldn’t go @@ and I heard the traffic jam over there was really bad. But today’s weather was really nice too — the weather bureau finally got the forecast right XD. First time I’ve seen the sun since Chinese New Year.