Edward Kopka

South Korea

Seoul

I visited South Korea for about one week. It was the middle country of my planned trip (between Taiwan and Japan), and Seoul was the main destination. We arrived a few days after Christmas and left on the third of January, in the new year. At this point, Seoul was

Taiwan

Back in Taipei

I returned to Taipei to meet my brother, who was joining me on my travels of east Asia. Our plan was to spend about a week in each of Taiwan, South Korea, and finally Japan. Most of our time together in Taiwan was spent back in Taipei. I didn'

Taiwan

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

On my way back to Taipei I had the opportunity to do a day trip to Sun Moon Lake. Originally, I was thinking of cutting this location from my itinerary to save on time. But a friend of mine who has visited Taiwan insisted that Sun Moon Lake was worth

Taiwan

Taiwan's North and South

While I was planning the itinerary for Taiwan, I noticed I would be close to both the northern and southern ends of the country. I thought a fun achievement would be to travel to the very northernmost point of the island and then to the very southernmost point and thereby

Taiwan

Kenting National Park

Kenting National Park is an awesome place to visit and it was so much better than what I was expecting. This national park is situated in the southernmost region of Taiwan. It has nice weather and nice beaches that make it a bit of a tourist destination, although the beaches

Taiwan

Tainan

Tainan used to be the old capital of Taiwan back when the Dutch, and then the Chinese, ruled the island. As such it is an old city with huge cultural significance to the island and it is seeping with history. It has many temples, a couple of old forts, many

Taiwan

Alishan Forest

Alishan National Forest Recreation Area is located in the interior mountains of Taiwan. It is sort of like an arboretum and conservation area combined, there are sections of carefully cultivated magnolias and cherry trees while other sections are a preservation of the native forests. There are extensive trails throughout the

Taiwan

Jiufen Mountain Town

Situated on the north west coast of Taiwan, about one hour by bus out of Taipei, is a small mountain town called Jiufen. It was a gold mining town during the Japanese colonial period and has now become a tourist hot spot with the establishment of some famous tea houses.

Taiwan

Arrival in Taiwan and Taipei

Starting in December I had an extended period of leave from work, so of course I decided to go traveling. For this trip my goal is to explore East Asia and my first destination is Taiwan. I will spend a little over three weeks in Taiwan before then going to

Rome

The final destination, in my big trip across Europe with my brother, was Rome. We both have an interest and appreciation for history so, when choosing our destinations for Europe, we wanted to make sure Rome was on the agenda. A big focus of our visit to Rome was seeing

Battlefields in Belgium

A few of the most interesting places I visited in Belgium were the sites of old historic battles. We only had a few days in this country and lots to see, with the main destinations being: Brussels, a couple World War I museums and sites, and the town we used

Pravčická Gate

From Prague we did a day trip to this natural sandstone arch in Czechia called the Pravčická Gate. It is situated in the north of the country, right near the German border. It was one of the top hikes recommended in Czechia and we were excited to explore it. I

Prague

We spent three days in Prague with two days to explore the city (the third day we went to Pravčická Gate). It is a wonderful old city with many beautiful and historic buildings. It is known as the city of a hundred spires because of the many old towers. We

Kraków Visit

After the hike at Zakopane we visited Kraków, staying with some friends who lived just outside the city. We visited some of the sights in the surrounding area, including Auswitz, and I also had one afternoon in the old town of Kraków. It was a beautiful day, the weather was

Kościelec

We came to Zakopane to meet an old friend of my Mum's, and to climb the Koscielec mountain peak. Zakopane is a mountain town in the south of Poland, almost next to the border with Slovakia, nestled in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains. I love this area

Warsaw Uprising

In April I left Europe from Warsaw returning to Australia for a few months. In the last week of July, I returned back to Warsaw where I spent one week working before I had some annual leave. During my leave I plan to explore more of Europe, while visiting friends

Gdańsk

My final destination in Europe, for this journey, was Gdańsk. I spent about four weeks here between the end of March to mid April. I had heard that Gdańsk is a beautiful city and it certainly did not disappoint. While I had been to other parts of Poland before, I

Bergen

Bergen was my gateway into Norway. I flew in and out from the airport here as it has the closest access to the hikes I wanted to do in Norway (featured in the previous posts). It is the second largest city in Norway, situated on the west coast in between

Buer Valley

While I was in Odda, I had a free day before my planned hike on Sunday. So what better way to prepare for a hike than by going on another hike! Not far from where I was staying is the Buer Valley and at the top of that valley is

Odda

I came to Odda, in Norway, with the intention of climbing Trolltunga mountain. Odda is a small town situated at the end of a long fjord, and it is a popular base for hikers wanting to go to Trolltunga, along with many other mountain based activities in the area. The

Tolkien Walk

In Lancenshire, the county I was staying in, is a place where J.R.R. Tolkien lived for a time. Stonyhurst Collage is located inland from Blackpool right on the border of the Forest of Bowland national park. This college is where Tolkien's son attended and he himself

Blackpool

When I was initially planning on going to England I had never heard of Blackpool let alone consider it as a potential place to stay. The reason I ended up here is because I found a hotel that wouldn't break my wallet, and it was targeted towards digital

The Lake District

North of Blackpool is a national park called the Lake District. Almost everyone I talked with, when I mentioned my love of hiking, recommended that I should go there and that it was really beautiful. I had a free day on the 17th of March so I thought that maybe

Preston Walk

In England, I was staying at a co-living place that was designed for digital nomads. The host likes to take the guests on walk and so on Saturday the 16th we went to Preston to walk through the city, its parks, and the surrounding countryside. The entire previous week

Bristol

On my first weekend in England, the 3rd of March, I visited Bristol. The main reason I came here was to catch up with a friend who is living in England at this time. Together we explored the city. Mostly we walked around Bristol, looking at all the sites, and