As it has become a yearly habit, whenever December rolls around, I start to think about what I’m going to write in my annual year-end review.
Over the years, I’ve had the article written and ready to go well in advance, but this year, I find myself sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops on a rainy and cold weekend with just a week before the new year, thinking about what to write.
As usual, I took a look back at what I wrote in my previous reviews, to see how I was feeling back then, and of course, what I had planned for the upcoming year, mostly just to see if I was successful in what I set out to do.
So was 2022 a successful year for me? Well, yes, and no..
In my review of 2021, I wrote that I was going to try to focus a bit more on travel-related articles this year, writing about places were likely of more interest to readers. I started out strong with a comprehensive travel guide to Taroko Gorge, one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist attractions.
After that though, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of the articles I posted were all related to subjects related to the Japanese-era.
Old habits die hard, I guess.
Keen observers may have noticed that I published far fewer articles this year than I have in previous years. I have to admit that I find it difficult to maintain the same pace of writing that I had when I first started writing. These days, the articles I write take quite a bit of time during the research and translation stages, then it takes time to actually write the article before formatting for the web, editing everything and adding photos.
I’d like to say that I’m focusing more on quality than quantity, but that might be something of an excuse. The truth is, it has been a bit of weird year, and I haven’t been out with my camera as often as I have in the past.
As I’m writing this, I have more than a dozen articles ready to go in my blog queue, but I don’t have enough photos for them, so they’re just going to sit there until I’m ready.
So why is the photographer not taking photos?
Well, I guess I need to provide a bit of a backstory for that.
Earlier this month CNN published an article condemning Taiwan’s traffic, causing quite an uproar on social media, and a large amount of embarrassment for the country. This had come shortly after Taiwan had re-opened its borders and the hashtag #TaiwanisOpen was spreading on social media. It certainly wasn’t a topic that the government was hoping that would come to the attention of the international community as they try to get the tourism industry back in business.
Link: Taiwan's 'living hell' traffic is a tourism problem, say critics (CNN)
For my part, I’ve been all too aware of the dangers of the traffic situation in Taiwan for quite a while, learning the hard way. While on my way home from dinner several years ago, I was rear-ended by someone making an illegal right-turn into opposing traffic on a one-way road. The accident, which sent my scooter and I flying in the air had me pretty bruised up and sent to the emergency room where I was told one of my knees was toast.
It would be another six months before I was able to walk again, but even then I needed a knee brace and crutches for quite a while longer.
That was the start of a downward spiral that caused not only physical health issues, but mental health ones as well. When I first arrived in Taiwan, I was in pretty good shape. My first health check up after arriving in the country reported that I was 181cm tall and weighed 154 pounds (70kg). After the accident however, I wasn’t able to maintain a normal exercise regimen and combined with an excess of delicious (yet fattening) Taiwanese food, and way too much Japanese ramen, I ended up gaining a lot of weight.
At the beginning of the year, one of the things I planned to do was lose weight - but I have to admit that it is something I always tell myself whenever I’m making resolutions, and every year I end up failing.
This year though, I told myself it was going to be different.
For any of you living in Taiwan, I’m sure you’re well aware that one of the things that you have to get used to is unwanted and unnecessary commentary about your body from complete strangers. Like many people, I’ve had to endure my fair share of criticism from people regarding my weight that it started to really affect my mood. Obviously, I was aware that I was on the verge of becoming overweight, but the bad knee and a lack of motivation were preventing me from doing anything about it.
Then, one day in June, I went to a really nice bar in town with some friends, and one of the owners, someone I’ve known for years, came over to my friend and I while we were in mid-conversation and said something like: “Wow, Josh, you’re really fat now. No wonder you can’t get married. No one wants to marry a fat ass like you.”
It was completely random, but it was also the kick in the ass that I needed.
I ended June at 182.6 (83kg) with a new a gym membership, went on a high-protein diet, cut out sugar and pasta (and my beloved ramen), and set a daily routine of high-intensity cardio workouts.
Suffice to say, after months of hard work, I’m ending the year thinner than I was when I first came to Taiwan. I’ve lost 30 pounds this year, which is as far I’m concerned a pretty great achievement. The lack of photos this year certainly wasn’t because I’ve lost interest in photography. I was simply focused more on both my mental and physical health, and I’m proud to say that I’m feeling much better at the end of this year than I have in a long time.
That being said, this has been yet another year where the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to be a pain in the ass, and in September after a couple of years of being extremely careful, it was finally my turn.
I’m not particularly sure how I caught it, but I was stuck at home for the typical eight-day quarantine period absolutely bored out of my mind. Fortunately I was already in pretty good shape by that time and had already taken three shots of the vaccine, so despite having a mild fever on the first day, I didn’t really have any of the other more common symptoms.
This year however was the year where Taiwan’s COVID defenses were finally broken and with so many people infected with the virus, we shifted to a new stage of learning to live with it rather than keeping the country and its borders completely closed to the outside world.
Whether or not that was a good decision is up for debate, but now that Taiwan has opened up, traffic on my website has increased exponentially, possibly due to renewed interest in visiting as a tourist, which is good news.
Many countries around the world have suffered over the past few years due to a lack of international tourism, and Taiwan is no different. One thing that has been great to see is the (newfound) appreciation that people here have for their country. In the past, it seemed like most people in Taiwan were quick to hop on a plane and get out of town whenever they had the chance.
The pandemic ended up changing all of that, though, and being forced to travel domestically seems to have resulted in an increased amount of appreciation for everything that this beautiful country has to offer!
And that’s a trend that I certainly hope continues.
Plans for the New Year
So what are my plans for 2023?
I suppose they’re probably the same as my plans for 2022.
I’m going to try to focus on writing about more well-known tourist attractions. That is, instead of writing about a bunch of obscure Japanese-era buildings, I’ll focus on places that are probably of more interest to general readers. Fortunately, I’ve gotten a bit of an early start on things as the more than a dozen articles that I already have in my blog queue are focused on subjects that tourists coming to Taiwan should find helpful.
Something that I’ve been slowly working on this year is re-writing older articles, and that I something I intend on continuing into the new year.
While writing new articles, I often take a look back at what I wrote in the past on similar topics and find myself embarrassed at the quality of the earlier articles that I published when I started this website - I’ve been trying to fix that by completely rewriting them in order to offer readers a more well-rounded experience. My article about the Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park (滿月圓國家森林遊樂區), which was my last article of the year is a pretty good example of how I turned an embarrassment into a proper travel guide.
I’ve also shifted around my weekly schedule, which should allow me to maintain my current gym routine, and spending the rest of the time traveling and taking photos. I have admittedly been a bit hardcore with working out this year, so now that I’ve achieved an ideal weight, I’m just going to focus on maintaining it, while also buffing up a bit.
Camera gear is heavy, so it’d be nice to be a bit stronger as well, right?
With more time to travel, I hope to be able to make my way down south more often than I have in years past, adding more tourist sites to my blog map, and of course, more Japanese-era sites as well.
Similarly I will continue visiting Martyrs Shrines, Confucius Temples, Martial Arts Halls, etc. to improve on already existing projects. And if everything goes to plan, I’ll be traveling to Japan in the Spring to take part in some cherry blossom viewing!
Your Favorite Articles of the Year
Now that Taiwan has reopened to the world, there has been a significant increase in the amount of traffic showing up on my website.
Introducing Taiwan to the outside world is a privilege, and I hope that anyone visiting this site finds the answers they’re looking for, or at least, the inspiration they need to make a visit.
The articles that received the most attention this year are similar to those from years past, but there are a couple of new ones that made their way onto the list, bringing a bit of variety.
Unsurprisingly, the article that attracted the most attention this year was the comprehensive Cherry Blossom Guide that I published several years ago, and has been the one that has received the most amount of traffic for several years in a row. This is an article that gets updated quite often, so even though the cherry blossom season only lasts for the first few months of the year, I’m happy to see that it continues to be of use to anyone wanting to enjoy Taiwan’s spring beauty.
One of the surprises this year, my article about the somewhat obscure Silver Temple in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai province attracted quite a bit of attention. Obviously, Thailand opened up for international tourism far sooner than Taiwan did, so with Chiang Mai acting as one of the hip new tourist hubs in Thailand, it seems like people were attracted to this article as it is strangely still one of the most in-depth that you can find online in English.
As far as temples in Thailand go, this is a pretty special one, so I hope those of you who have read it found it helpful!
One of the articles that also found itself on the list over the past few years was the one about Tainan’s Confucius Temple. Consistently one of my most popular articles, this is another example of an article that I should probably get around to updating sooner or later as it has become a bit dated.
If you read my review last year, I actually said the same thing. But this year, I’m thinking it will be a sure thing as I also plan on re-writing my article about the massive Martial Arts Hall that you can see in the upper left of the photo of the temple above, so a visit to the Confucius Temple for new photos is a sure thing.
One of the newer articles to earn a spot on the list is my travel guide to Taipei’s Qixing Mountain, which has attracted quite a bit of attention this year. With so many people forced to travel domestically due to the pandemic, it doesn’t really surprise me that a blog like this would attract so much traffic.
Qixing Mountain is a pretty popular mountain to climb, but even though it’s located in Taipei, getting there can often be a bit confusing. With few comprehensive travel guides to the mountain in English available, I’m guessing it has been helpful for quite a few people, which is great!
Once again, unsurprisingly, the article I wrote about the (mostly abandoned) Wanli UFO houses a few years back continues to attract quite a bit of attention with urban explorers and foreign media. I had never really expected this article to amass even a fraction of the traffic that it has received, but for the past few years it has been one of my most popular articles and is always the one that gets the most attention from outside of Taiwan.
My Favorite Articles of the Year
As usual, the blogs that I appreciate the most are often the ones where I learn a lot during the research process, but aren’t necessarily the ones that readers seem to find as interesting.
I published quite a few travel guides this year in addition to quite a few articles about historic sites from the Japanese-era. Although my list differs from yours, I suspect that one or two of the articles on it may eventually make the jump to your favorites in the years to come.
One of the areas where I learned the most this year was when I wrote about the historic Nishi Honganji Square in Taipei.
Most people just pass by the square on their way to the Ximen Shopping District, completely unaware of its history so writing about this one was fun, and I learned quite a bit at the same time.
The first article I published this year was a travel guide for one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist destinations, Taroko National Park.
The exhaustive travel guide took quite a while to prepare, but I hope that the end result is one that helps people plan a trip to the park and get the most out of their experience.
Earning a reputation as a writer and photographer covering historic buildings from the Japanese-era, I got myself a special invite to the Shinchiku Police Commissioner’s Residence, which had just been restored by the Hsinchu City Government and was getting ready to reopen to the public. Writing this one, I learned quite a bit, but most of all I enjoyed the private experience of being able to visit this beautiful building before all the crowds of tourists.
I’ve been visiting this special place of worship at least once a year for more than a decade now, but it took me until this year to finally publish an article about Tainan’s Grand Mazu Temple. As one of the oldest temples in the country, and the first dedicated to Mazu, the patron deity of Taiwan, this is a pretty iconic spot.
Writing about this temple required an extensive amount of research, and the end result is one that I’m proud of. I might not write about temples as often as I used to, but I’m glad that I finally have this one available.
This is another one of the blog posts that I rewrote this year, combining an entirely rewritten article with new photos.
Most of the articles I write require a considerable amount of research, but this one required some blood, sweat and tears. Hiking Stegosaurus Ridge isn’t for the faint of heart, and even though I’ve hiked the mountain a few times before, I decided to give it another go with a friend of mine, who proudly exclaimed when we were done: NEVER AGAIN!
It’s a great hike, but if you’re not an avid hiker or are afraid of heights, you may want to skip it. Nevertheless, as one of the more popular hikes in northern Taiwan in recent years, I figured it was probably a pretty good time to update my original article, so that anyone wanting to hike it had the necessary information available for their own safety.
My Favorite Photos of the Year
Despite not being able to get out with my camera as much as I would have liked this year, I did spend a considerable amount of time working on photos, rewriting and updating previously published articles.
I was happy to find a hip new store dedicated to film photography in town this year, so I had my old film cameras cleaned and now have a steady supply of my beloved Agfa APX 100 film.
Some of the photos I’ll be sharing here today are part of an ongoing film project that I’ve been working on for the past few years. That being said, whenever I left home with my camera this year, I made sure to have my film camera packed in my bag as well, which I consider somewhat of a success.
(Film cameras are heavy)
The photos I’m choosing as my favorite of the year probably aren’t what most would choose, but they have sentimental value, which is why I’m putting them here. Some of them may be featured in future blog posts, so keep an eye out for those as well!
Hew and the View
This one is simply just a view of my friend and hiking buddy, Hew enjoying the view of northern Taiwan during our trip to Stegosaurus Ridge. The views from up there are breathtaking with the combination of the tall mountains the Pacific Ocean.
Kishu-An
One of Taipei’s prettiest Japanese-era heritage buildings, Kishu-an, a historic riverside restaurant is a pretty popular tourist attraction these days, but if you’re lucky enough to visit when no one is there, you can get some absolutely beautiful photos.
Taipei Guest House
One of the places I’ve been waiting years to visit is the Taipei Guest House, the historic residence of the Japanese-era Governor General of Taiwan. The mansion is only ever open to the public a few times a year, so when I had the chance to finally visit, I didn’t miss it. The photos I ended up taking were quite nice, and the article I wrote about it should be posted pretty soon!
We are the Champions
One of the things I’ve taken a liking to in recent years is Taiwanese baseball, and I was lucky enough to see my favorite team win the championship this year. Usually, whenever I go to games, I go with friends and we end up having far too many beers, so I rarely bring my camera.
This time though, I’m happy I had the foresight to bring it with me as I was able to capture the moment the crowd went wild as the Brothers swept the Monkeys in the Taiwan Series.
Link: Running it back
Film Fails?
If I took either of these photos with one of my digital cameras, it’s very likely that I would have deleted them before they got uploaded to my computer. With film, though, you don’t have that option. When I returned home with my prints and my scans, I took a look at both of these shots and wasn’t actually all that disappointed with them.
In one of the photos, the subject’s face is dark, but the shadows in the photo make it quite appealing. In the second photo, I snapped the shot just as people were waking by, so even though the face is in focus, it is obscured by a bit of blurriness. Nevertheless, they’re both nice as far as I’m concerned.
Generals
I leave you with some samples of portraits that I’m collecting for one of ongoing film projects. They were taken during the annual Qingshan King Temple Festival with a Canon 35mm film camera and AGFA APX 100 film. Each of the shots has gone through minor adjustments in Photoshop after they were developed, but mostly just to clean up any noise or imperfections.
That’s all for this year, once again I hope 2022 was a good one for you and yours, and here’s hoping that life continues to return to a semblance of normal around the world.
Happy New Year everyone! 新年快樂！
