Well, here we are again with another look back at the year that just passed.
As usual, whenever I do one of these posts, I always take a look back at how I was feeling and to see what was going on the year prior, before I start writing. Last year, it seemed like even though we were turning the corner from the worst parts of the pandemic, and life seemed like it was getting back to normal, when the year ended, I didn’t really seem to have a great sense of confidence for what was to come.
Pessimism, sometimes, might also be a bit of clairvoyance. I don’t think any of us were really prepared for what 2024 had in store for us.
This was a year where the entire world experienced economic chaos and political instability in many of the world’s largest countries. The wars in Europe and the Middle-East sadly got a lot worse, and the devastating effects of climate change spared few countries with floods, earthquakes, fires, and extreme weather, leaving their mark on an increasingly divided world community.
I could probably talk your ear off about how democracy around the world has been under attack, the political situation here in Taiwan, what’s going on back at home in Canada, or the absolute clown show in the USA, with assassination attempts and the reelection of the former president - but all of this seems like a response to a world that isn’t trending in a positive direction. I don’t want to spend much time talking about any of that, though. One of the things I’ve learned over the years, despite having a keen interest in politics is that it’s sometimes better to just keep these things to myself, rather than engaging in what might end up being a time-consuming social media battle.
And on that note..
With all that’s going on in the world, it’s become an area of concern that a lot of the divisions in society are being driven by the increasingly toxic atmosphere that you’ll encounter on social media. Social media, at its core, is meant to be both educational and entertaining, but with everyone stuck at home during the pandemic, the amount of time people have been spending online has fueled addictions, and with all of the toxicity, it really seems like our collective mental health has been suffering as a result.
With bots, professional state-sponsored trolls, anonymous accounts, or just a parade of maladjusted individuals with megaphones to spew hatred all over the place, its become even more obvious in 2024 that spending too much time in these kinds of environments isn’t a healthy part of a daily routine. The sad thing is that given how addicted people have become, it’s not likely something that will improve as we ring in the new year.
Last year, I mentioned that I joined Bluesky, a new social media platform that was advertised as an alternative, aspiring to be the best of what Twitter once sought to be as a community-centered platform, with a focus on safety and open discourse. Joining in its infancy when it was still an invite-only platform, quite a few people in the Taiwan Twitter-sphere were active there, which made the transition a better one, but with Twitter’s Troll-in-Chief and the reelection of the former American president, Bluesky welcomed a mass exodus of people looking for an alternative. For my part, I’ve curated a list of people that I enjoy following, with zero signs of toxicity, and who are producing content that I enjoy reading.
That being said, I have an increasing malaise for anything social media-related, and even though you can find me there, I don’t really post much, nor do I spend much time looking at it and the same goes for the other sites.
I’ve seen friends argue that in order to improve the way we communicate on social media that it would be better to post more often on Bluesky, which could assist in spreading positivity and making it the place to be, and I can appreciate that sentiment, but I’ve been slow to respond. I’ve also started to question what purpose social media actually has with regard to what I do as a content creator. I mentioned this in my review from last year, but when I look at traffic analytics for this website, well over 95% of those visiting are organic visitors originating from search engines. My activity on social media actually accounts for very few landing here. It’s become somewhat of a hassle to cross-post photos and links to social media sites given that most of them are going out of their way to make it more difficult for content creators to get noticed, so I question whether the effort is actually worth it.
Maybe I’m just getting old, or its a natural progression with maturity, I don’t know, but if you’ve attempted to contact me on social media and I didn’t get back to you, or I was really slow to respond, you now know why.
Personally, in what ended up being the most significant event of the year, and something that absolutely broke my heart in the process was the loss of the best pal a guy could have, and only family member here in Taiwan.
I haven’t said too much about it, but just a few months into the year, my dog, suddenly passed away. He wasn’t sick, and it didn’t seem like he was in pain. He was just old, and it was his time.
We had fourteen years together here in Taiwan, and no matter what was happening in my life, he was always a big part of it. Being responsible for him over the years meant that I had to be home more often, walking him, playing with him, feeding him, etc. Now that he’s gone, I don’t really have that responsibility, but there’s also just this massive void in my life that has been really hard to process given that no matter where I was at home, he was always beside me, and he was always the first and last thing I saw every day.
When he died, his body was sent to a nearby pet funeral center, and I had to go to see him off as he was cremated. I decided to go alone, because, it was always just the both of us, but being there by myself, with so many other people and families who were also going through the same loss of their pets, it was really difficult. The whole thing turned out to be a surreal experience that I never really expected I’d have in Taiwan, nor was it something that I could have emotionally prepared myself for.
Now that he’s gone, I have a lot more time to travel, and have the freedom to just take off whenever I feel like it. So, as part of my recovery process, I’ve spent quite a bit of time this year traveling around Taiwan. Every time I write one of these annual reviews, I always mention that I want to spend more time traveling around the country with my camera, but until this year it wasn’t something that I was every really able to do. Obviously, I enjoy the fact that I have this newfound freedom to go wherever I want, but I’d also much rather still have him around.
I’ve been down to Chiayi several times, and I’m increasingly in love with that town. There’s such a cool vibe going on there, and every time I visit, I’ve had a really great time. I’ve also spent several weekends in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and as we transition into the new year, I’ll continue to be spending a lot more time down south.
Coincidentally, I’m actually posting this article from Tainan.
On that note, you’re also likely to notice that the photos I’ve been sharing in this post so far aren’t from Taiwan. One of my only international trips this year was a visit to Osaka, which was mostly just to go to a concert, but I also got to check out some destinations that I’ve had on my list for a while, and I also got to enjoy Japan’s beautiful autumn foliage, which was great.
Traveling more often, though, is something that has really slowed down the speed for which I process photos and publish content here. I actually have quite a few articles ready to be published, but this was a year where my writing has continued to evolve, and the amount of work and research I do on certain subjects means that I spend considerably more time writing than I used to.
Once again, I realize that the topics that I’m most interested in aren’t the ones that attract as much attention, which is apparent given what you’ll see below, but it does a pretty good job of keeping me entertained and engaged.
And that’s what’s most important, right?
In the new year, I’ll have several articles about Japanese-era train stations from southern Taiwan, but I’ll also have a couple of in-depth posts about historic destinations in Tainan that are quite popular with tourists.
Something that I ended up spending a considerable amount of my time working on this year was a massive research project, which ultimately wasn’t photography-related at all. I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of Taiwan’s historic Shinto Shrines, a number that ended up being far more expansive than originally thought. The end-result is a research project that is far more similar to a thesis than a simple blog, but its a subject that is something that isn’t really covered very well in either English or Chinese, and for anyone interested in this period of Taiwan’s history, I hope its something that people appreciate.
Likewise, given that a lot of my work has been inspired by Taiwan’s half-century experience with Japanese occupation, I’ve ended up learning quite a bit about the specific varieties of shrines that were most common here in Taiwan, and during my trips to Japan, I’ve made sure to trace that history with the places I’ve been visiting. So, to expand upon those Taiwan stories, I’ll be introducing several more shrines from Japan, and just a few months into the new year, I’ll be hiking the famed UNESCO World Heritage Kumano Pilgrimage (熊野古道) in Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture.
One of the more positive aspects of my year came just before my most recent trip to Japan where I was accompanied by a companion that I’ve waited several years to appear. In my review from last year, I introduced my new Fuji camera, which I purchased primarily to better prepare myself for a transition from a traditional digital camera to a new ‘mirrorless’ system. That transition came in early November when I finally took my new drwam camera home.
The camera that I have used for professional work over the past decade has been in dire need of retirement, but I was apprehensive upgrading to the first generation Canon R5, due to some of the concerns about its mechanics, but when the second generation camera was officially released, I quickly got myself on a waiting list, and was able to pick up my new Canon R5II just in time for my trip.
I have to say, the camera has been an absolute dream to use, and I’m excited for the improvement in the quality of photos that I take this year.
With all that being said, on a personal level, I’m not particularly feeling as pessimistic about the new year as I have been in years past. Sure, there may be quite a bit of chaos taking place around the world, but I have hope that at time point people will get out of this pandemic-funk and maybe we can start acting rationally and having compassion for others again.
Instead of dwelling too much on any of that, I feel like staying as busy as possible seems like one of the best methods of combating the sort of pessimism that is brought on by spending too much time consuming information from social media, or watching the news.
Anyway, that about sums it all up. This year was a mixture of good and bad, but despite the positives, probably not the best of years given what happened. The new year begins with grand plans and the resolve to focus on what is really important in life, while also continuing to ignore (at least as much as possible) the things I have little to no control over.
This year will have its ups and downs, but so far its looking like it’ll be one where I’ll be considerably more active, traveling, taking photos, and continuing in my effort to stay fit and health.
You can expect quite a bit of content from me, that is, if I ever get around to publishing what I write!
Hopefully this year was an enjoyable for you, despite everything that has been happening.
If you enjoy what I do, keep watching in the new year as I have some interesting articles in the queue that are almost ready to go!
Your Favorite Articles of the Year
Over the past few years, there hasn’t really been much of a change in which content has attracted the most attention. Unfortunately, this year, its safe to say that there has been somewhat of a ‘seismic’ shift in the list you’ll see below.
As I alluded to earlier, 2024 was a year where there have been a significant number of natural disasters around the world. Taiwan was no different in that respect as we’ve had more typhoons make landfall this year than any time in the past decade, and there was a stretch where the earth just calm down. Earthquakes are common in Taiwan, but throughout my time living here, I don’t think there has been a year where they have been so frequent. There was a period in April where the country was constantly shaking, and no where in the country was that more devastating than in Hualien, where there was a considerable amount of damage.
Consistently listed in my ‘Top Five’ list on these annual reviews for the past few years, my travel guide to Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園) has been pushed aside given that the damage there has shut it down to tourism for the foreseeable future. However, with international tourism on the rise in Taiwan, I expect that once the park reopens, this won’t be the case when I’m writing my annual review next year.
Suffice to say, my list is a bit different with a few articles replacing the travel guides that have been popular for so many years. Nevertheless, as I usually do, I’ll list the five articles that received the most traffic this year, and even though some of them are the same as last year, it’s nice to see that there are a few new entries to the list.
Taipei’s Top Three Temples (台北三大廟門)
This was an article that has been on my ‘Top Five’ list for a few years now.
I originally wrote it quite a few years ago when I was still new to blogging, and although it remains somewhat of a mystery to me, at some point shortly after Taiwan reopened for tourism after the pandemic, someone must have shared it and it started attracting a tremendous amount of traffic.
I don’t look at my website’s traffic analytics very often, but last year when I noticed this massive increase in traffic on this particular article, I decided to give it a complete rewrite with an entirely new set of photos as I felt like the original wasn’t up to my current standards.
Hopefully the newly updated article helps anyone wanting to visit Taiwan learn a little about some of the attractive tourist temples in Taipei.
Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區)
One of my later additions to the blog last year was a comprehensive introduction to the history of the famed Huashan 1914 Creative Park, a Japanese-era distillery in the heart of Taipei. The ‘Creative Park’ has become one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions and its success is something that other major cities around the country have attempted to emulate.
There are a lot of articles out there that introduce Huashan in its current form, but there are very few that do a deep-dive into its history, which is probably one of the reasons why this particular article has been attracting so much attention.
Four Beasts Hiking Trail (四獸山步道)
I don’t have as many hiking guides on here as I should, but my comprehensive guide to hiking Taipei’s ‘Four Beasts Hiking Trail’ remains one of the most popular blogs on here.
The article, which is compilation of a number of individual articles into a single guide offers readers the logistical information necessary to complete the entire hike, rather than doing each of the mountains one by one.
Some of the most iconic photos of the Taipei that you’ll see are taken from the vantage point of one of the mountains on the Four Beasts Trail, and since there are conveniently accessible to anyone visiting Taipei, having a guide like this is probably pretty helpful, and I’m happy that it allows people to appreciate their visit in Taiwan even more!
Qixing Mountain (七星山)
Once again, earning a spot on my Top Five list last year, my hiking guide for Taipei’s popular Qixing Mountain (七星山) has continued to attract quite a bit of interest. In previous years, with so many people forced to travel domestically due to the pandemic, it didn’t surprise me that a blog like this would be so useful, but now that Taiwan has reopened for tourism, it has remained quite popular with people who are visiting the country and looking to climb one of the highest mountains in the north.
Qixing Mountain has always been a pretty popular mountain to climb, but even though it’s located within the capital, the logistics of getting there can often be a little difficult for people who aren’t familiar with Taipei’s public transportation.
With few comprehensive travel guides to the mountain in English available, I’m guessing it continues to be helpful for quite a few people, which is great. Coincidentally now that I’m sporting my shiny new camera, I’ve got this mountain on my list of places to visit this year as I hope to get new photos in order to update the article!
Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine (上色見熊野座神社)
One of the newest entries to the list is surprisingly not here in Taiwan.
Published earlier this year, it took me a long time to complete this deep-dive on the history of this absolutely beautiful, and increasingly popular, shrine on the lower side of Kyushu’s volcanic Aso Mountain (阿蘇山). The shrine, which has a really long tongue-twister kind of name was so beautiful that when I was in the area, I visited more than once, and the photos I got there were stunning.
Unfortunately, like a lot of Japan’s most popular Shinto Shrines, there’s not very much information available about the shrine and its history. I spent a long time researching and translating what few resources I was able to find about it in order to offer readers a lot more context than you’ll get from other sites on the web, which I guess is why it has attracted so much attention.
My Favorite Articles of the Year
Chiayi Shinto Shrine (嘉義神社)
Having spent quite a few weekends in the beautiful city of Chiayi this year, I was finally able to publish an article about the remains of the historic Kagi Shrine. Even though only a few pieces of the shrine remain, but what remains is absolutely beautiful and has been expertly restored.
In the article, I introduced the history of the shrine, what used to be there, and the architectural design of the buildings that remain on site, making it one of the longest English-language introductions to the shrine.
Taichung Train Station (台中車站)
This is one of the articles that I ended up spending quite a bit of time this year during the research, translation and writing process. Likewise, the photos that I used were part of a collection of several visits to the Taichung area over the years.
Having completed it, I was quite happy to add this one to the list of Japanese-era stations that I covered on the blog, especially since its one of the only major stations that I’ve been able to cover, at least, so far.
Early in the new year, you can expect to see another one added to the list!
Jialishan (加里山)
If I were only going to write one hiking guide this year, I’m happy that it ended up being about the spectacularly beautiful Jialishan hike in Miaoli.
The mountain, which is often referred to as ‘Taiwan’s Mount Fuji’ was an absolute delight to hike, so writing a hiking guide for the mountain ended up being one of the easiest articles I published this year.
Once again, even though it’s a pretty popular hike, there isn’t much available in the English-language to assist people who want to hike the mountain, so I hope the guide has been of use to anyone wanting to go on an adventure.
Taiwanese Hokkien-style Architecture (臺灣閩南建築)
Having spent so much time writing about the buildings from the Japanese-era, I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the architectural designs that were most common here during that period.
At some point this year, though, while writing about one of Tainan’s historic temples, I discovered that I had forgotten most of what I had learned about Taiwan’s Hokkien style of design. So, I decided to remedy that with an in-depth research project about the architectural design specifics that make this style of architectural design so beautiful.
This one ended up taking quite a while to complete, but as its one of the only English-language articles that covers the topic, I feel like its an important addition to the list of articles I’ve published, and one that I’ll be referencing quite often in the future.
Usa Grand Shrine (宇佐神宮)
Something I had to learn the hard way while writing about Shinto Shrines in Japan is that the amount of resources and information available isn’t even remotely as plentiful as what I’m used to while writing about places in Taiwan. Even with a Grand Shrine (神宮), which claims to be well-over a thousand years old like this one only really has a paragraph or two as an introduction.
Writing this in-depth look at the birthplace of one of Japan’s most important deities was a tall task, but I’m quite happy with the end result.
Given that the shrine is a pretty popular place for tourists to visit while in Kyushu, I hope that all of the information I’ve provided about its history and architectural design is of use to anyone wanting to know more about the shrine.
My Favorite Photos of the Year
This year was a bit different than the last with regard to what I was doing with my photography. For the better part of the year, I was eagerly waiting for the release of the new Canon R5, the camera that I use for both work and pleasure. While I was waiting, I spent most of the time with my Fuji camera in my bag walking around taking street photos, which is something I haven’t been doing as often in recent years.
What I’ve been doing with the Fuji most of the time, though, is making diptychs and triptychs for my Instagram stories. I’m not going to do that here, but in some cases, I’m going to share more than one photo for each of the subjects below.
The Super Moon (超級月亮)
This year turned out to be quite significant in that it featured four super moons.
For any of you who might be thinking to yourself, ‘What’s a Super Moon?’ Basically it’s just your typical full moon, but it takes place during what is known as a ‘perigree’ when the moon is closest to the earth, making it appear larger than normal in the night sky.
It’s also one of the easiest times for photographers to take photos of the moon given that its so large in the night sky.
Generally-speaking, there are usually three of four of these types of moons on an annual basis, but this year there were four, and even more interesting, 2025, will have six!
We were quite fortunate here in Taiwan, at least in the area where I live, to have excellent weather conditions with clear skies during the super moons. So, I took to the roof with my camera, a telephoto lens, and a tripod and took some photos of the moon.
2 The Buddha’s Watching You (人在做，佛在看)
One of the more difficult articles I’ve ever written about a temple in Taiwan was about a Japanese-era Buddhist temple in Taichung.
There was very little information available about the place, which was really strange for a historic place of worship in this country, and it probably wasn’t until my third or fourth research session that I figured out why.
I’m not about to share that secret yet, though. I’ll be publishing the article relatively soon.
What attracts quite a few people to the temple, thanks to Instagram, is the giant Buddha statue that has recently been restored. Giant statues like this are quite common in Taiwan, but you won’t find that many within large metropolitan cities like Taichung, so this one is quite special, and if you can find the right angle, you can take some interesting photos of the statue.
3. Zhengbin Harbour (正濱漁港)
One of the cities in Taiwan that I probably visited the most this year was Keelung, and it seems every time I visited, I made sure to stop by the famed Zhengbin Harbor to check out what was going on.
The harbor is an extremely Instagram-friendly kind of place, and on one of my first excursions with my new camera, this was one of the places I found myself taking photos.
I’m a big fan of the area, and I feel like its one of the cities in Taiwan where you’ll find the most character. It’s also absolutely great for street photography, so I enjoy exploring the streets, and enjoying all of the great food, that in some cases, you’ll only find in Keelung.
4. Lunch on Jialishan (加里山午餐)
I ended up taking a number of photos while on the stunningly beautiful peak of Jialishan, one of the articles referenced earlier, but even though the scenery was beautiful, one of my favorite shots of the excursion was one of a group of Taiwanese retirees nestled into a nice little spot on the peak.
Enjoying a full-course lunch, which is something you’ll notice happens often with Taiwanese hikers, these mountain meals tend to be quite elaborate, and they go out of their way to not only prepare great food for their trips, but also exert a lot of effort to carry heavy cooking equipment with them.
Makes the rest of us eating our convenience store rice balls jealous!
That being said, I also took quite a few other beautiful photos while on that trip. The mist shrouding the tall Japanese cedar trees, and the view of the Snow Mountain range from the peak were all highlights of the trip!
5. Maples in the Rock Garden
Rock Gardens at Buddhist temples in Japan are pretty Zen.
Alternatively, red maple leafs to a Canadian, are also pretty Zen.
My visit to Koyasan (高野山), in the mountains south of Osaka was one of the highlights of my most recent trip to Japan. I’ll eventually have a blog about this location at some point in the new year, but I have to say that I liked this particular photo so much that its currently the wallpaper on my iPhone.
And with that, I’m finished!
That’s all for this year, once again I hope 2024 was a good one for you and yours, and hopefully the coming year will be even better for all of us!
Happy New Year everyone! 新年快樂！
