It felt decidedly different, and very much in a good way, to travel to Taiwan for fun instead of business. And I think that’s really saying something, given how much I already liked Taiwan.

While we only had a week, I think we made the most of it. We spent a few days in Taipei, visiting with friends, relaxing in hot springs in Beitou, eating all the dumplings we could get our hands on, and exploring before taking the train to Hualien. On the recommendation of some other friends, we stayed at the charming Hotel Bayview. It’s a little off the beaten path (read: not in downtown Hualien), but has the advantage of being right on the ocean, and they were quite honestly the nicest hotel staff I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with in quite some time. They not only helped us arrange transportation and secure a rental car, but sent us to the most marvelous, hole-in-the-wall beef noodle soup restaurant you could imagine.

From Hualien (in our rental car, with more than just a little fear in our eyes), we drove to Taroko Gorge, a magnificent canyon carved into the marble east coast of Taiwan. It’s a national park, and feels a little bit like Yellowstone, in that one drives from sight to sight, gets out and walks a bit, then drives some more. And the scenery is just as breathtaking.

Back up north, we spent an afternoon in Yangmingshan National Park (just a taxi ride away from the city). It is not only a proper mountain, it’s a volcano, with sulfur vents and hot springs to prove it. With our hosts Abe and Sophia, we hiked up and over Qixing Mountain, and were rewarded with some great views, including this one back down towards Taipei.

We spent our last day in town touring the markets of Taipei, including the amazing Mitsui fish market, and bought ingredients to prepare a feast. We made dishes from both the new Lark cookbook (actually an iPad app, and an amazing one at that) and Heston Blumenthal at Home, and then stayed out waaay too late before our early-morning flight the next day.

The rest of the pictures from this fantastic trip are posted here.

I was sad to find out that upcoming travel plans have us in Taipei during this year’s BarBot competition — the robot arm is getting awful close to becoming a bartender, plus that event just looks like a ton of fun! But, on the plus side, we’re going to Taipei!

I’ve been quite a few times for work-related travels, and have always enjoyed my time there, particularly time spent with my buddy Abe. It’s been over 18 months since I’ve done any travel to Asia, and truth be told, I was starting to miss it. So Dina & I bought tickets to spend a week in Taiwan at the end of February/beginning of March. I’m looking forward to plenty of friend time, lots of dumplings and beef noodle soup, and (hopefully) a shopping expedition to a Taiwanese woodworking store. And BarBot will happen another year.

In spite of my initial resistance and (admittedly muted) protests, I seem to have fallen into a life as a contract engineer, at least for now. For a number of reasons, not the least of which is paying the bills, I’ve tapered off working on my own company/project in favor of short- to medium-term stints at a few different companies around town. Not that long ago, one of those projects wrapped up, and the next won’t start until early January, leaving me with a few weeks of funemployment (made more fun by the fact that I know where I’m landing when it’s over). I’ve been enjoying a bunch of time in the shop as a result, and have finished one of the big woodworking projects on my list.

This project was the first time I started with a tree and wound up with a piece of furniture; you can read more about that process here. For those interested in the quick summary: it was a satisfying process, I learned a ton, I’m happy with the results, and I’m sure I don’t need to do that for every project I undertake.