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Photos by MJ Klein

Our October 2008 trip to Thailand was business motivated.  We hired a car for the day and went to see our friend Mr. Somhkit at his factory in Muang Phon.  I’ll show you what it’s like to go south on highway 2 from Khonkaen down to Muang Phon, and some of the interesting sights of daily Thai life you can expect to see along the way.

This is the car we hired for the day.  You can see Hui-chen peeking through the rear window.  Typically, cars with drivers can be hired for around 1,500 Thai baht per day, plus fuel expenses.  That’s around US less fuel expenses.  If you’re doing business in Thailand, this is the way to go.  Our hotel setup the rental for us.  It couldn’t have been easier.

The first order of business was to gas up.  But you’ll notice that the hose isn’t going to the gas tank.

This is because the car we hired is a dual fuel vehicle.  We were at the LPG station, not the gasoline station.

It’s really quite simple.  The attendant hooks up the filler hose to the fitting on your LPG tank and from there it’s pretty much the same as filling up with liquid gasoline.  Many vehicles in Thailand use liquid propane fuel.

Soon, we were on our way, leaving Khonkaen behind.

Local people told us that recently they have been experiencing serious flooding.  We saw many places where mud has been washed across the roads by high water.

I’ve been in severe rainfall in this area before, and I’ve even seen some flash flooding on occasion, but nothing like this.  I’m not sure what this was, but it’s gone now.

A fact of Thai life is police presence.  It’s more prevalent in some places than others.  When driving you can expect to encounter a police check point virtually anywhere, at any time.  This check point is on highway 2, several kilometers south of Khonkaen, and it’s been there for as long as I can remember.

One of my famous Photos From The Car shows flooding on the roadside.  We saw many areas that we are familiar with and know to be dry, but now have standing water.

One of my favorite things about going to Phon is that you can get that wonderful Isaan style sausage at any number of roadside stands nearby.  Isaan sauage is a dry, somewhat sour sausage that tastes a lot better than I can describe it.  You just have to try it for yourself.  Whenever I go to Thailand, I eat too much of it during the first few days of my visit.

This is the main drag of Muang Phon.

It’s definitely Asian, but considerably different than Taiwan or China.  There are typical block houses with business space on the bottom that we see in many parts of the world.  The Thais call these “Chinese houses” and compared to Taiwan, these are very affordable.  The price of real estate has been going up though, and places that we saw only two years ago have virtually doubled in price now.

The center square of Muang Phon features a large portrait of the King.

We approach the edge of the downtown area, turn a corner and….

…. we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere.  This is a small highway that leads out to where we need to the Sabua Resort.  While we were in the area of the factory we went back to the resort for a few minutes to take care of some business there.

Normally, Hui-chen and I ride in a tuktuk like this one.  Today we were glad we had the hired car as the tuktuks are very difficult for me to get in and out of (as you can imagine).  Plus, I can’t even see out of a tuktuk because the roofline is so low.

When driving in Thailand you must exercise patience and caution, especially in the rural areas because farmers use the road to transport their animals too.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to apply the brakes because I thought a cow would step out into the road in front of me.  You wouldn’t want to accidently hit one of these animals, so take your time on these country roads.

More evidence of flooding.  I can tell you from personal experience that this area is normally very dry.  Our friends told us that this water has been standing here for several weeks.  This means the water table has risen due to the heavy rainfall.

This is the road that leads to the resort.  A quick stop and we’re back with the water buffaloes on the road.

We found that they hadn’t moved very far since we passed them going the other way.  Life is rather slow here.

On the way back, we had to change lanes due to road construction.  One side of the highway was severely damaged by floodwaters that undercut the bridge and caused it’s collapse.

So now we’re driving on the wrong side of the highway.  Remember, in Thailand people drive on the left like in the UK or Japan.

A rather hasitly snapped photo of the bridge being repaired.

At the next intersection, we crossed back over to the correct side of the highway - the left side.

After another 45 minutes we found ourselves at one of the gates to the city of Khonkaen.  This particular gate has been under construction for a long time, so I was glad to see it nearly completed after more than two years.  This article is geotagged at this location.

We hope you enjoyed taking a trip with us, and we thank you for reading!

Photos by Hui-chen

Video by MJ Klein

We took Dad out on Belews Lake on a pontoon boat. It was a great day and everyone had a wonderful time on the calm waters of the lake. We were going along at a relatively slow speed and came across this snake swimming at a surprisingly high speed:

I was using my new Glidecam Pro 2000 with the body pod and managed to get some video too.

Hui-chen snapped some great shots of the snake swimming. In this shot you can see it’s tongue sticking out!

Now, here is the video:

Snake On A Lake from MJ Klein on Vimeo.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I were in Nantou and we basically stumbled upon the 921 Memorial Park in Mingjian. Actually it’s not exactly named that, but that is precisely what it is - a park dedicated to the memory of the 921 earthquake. 2,416 lives were lost in the 7.3 magnitude quake that occurred at 01:47 local time. That’s after midnight, folks. I’ve been in quite a few earthquakes, and some of them big enough to be frightening but can you imagine being awakened by a huge earthquake in the middle of the night? Surely the high numbers of people lost were due to the fact that they were home in bed when their building collapsed.

The 921 earthquake has special meaning for me. I first traveled to Taiwan in April of 2000. I visited some sites in Taichung, at the northern end of the fault line and personally saw the destruction and also some of the repair efforts underway. I will never forget looking at a landslide while someone told me that there were several hundred people still unaccounted for, and they were presumed to be buried under the landslide.

This photo is of what is called (in English) the Tilting Electric Tower. It’s a fitting memorial to the earthquake and demonstrates the extend of the damage. This tower is the centerpiece of the park, and I took a short walking tour of the park with the specific goal of reporting on it. So please join me as I take you thorough the park and we get a closer look at it’s features. But first, I want to show you some historical photos I took in 2000.

Not only has the bridge fallen, but the riverbed itself experienced a significant upheaval.

This shot (despite the raindrops on the lens) shows the story. The ground shifted by about 7 meters and the end of the bridge broke off. The waterfall is new and a result of the upheaval.

In this same location, a small temporary bridge was built, and that subsequently sank as a result of aftershocks and further activity in the area. So, a second temporary bridge was built, and it’s seen to the far left.

This is a closeup of the first temporary bridge. Opening any of these photos will take you to my flickr album for further photo browsing.

Now, back to the memorial park.

The most striking feature of the park is the tilted tower:

When you first walk down the path towards the tower, it’s a bit unnerving. Perhaps it’s just me because I’ve climbed a tower or two in my broadcast engineering days. I’ve never seen one fall but I’ve seen a few on the ground afterwards and I can tell you that a fallen tower is every engineer’s nightmare. The closer I got, the more uneasy I felt.

This just looks so wrong. The tower is leaning at an angle of 16.5 degrees. That is non-trivial! Notice the visible ring around the base. It appears as if the ground became liquid and re-solidified.

Now compare this with a shot of the nearby replacement tower and you can see that the tilting tower basically sank into the earth.

The path thorough the park takes you past, and directly underneath the tilting tower!

OK, I’m going to walk down and past the tilting tower, even though this goes against everything I know about towers!

I looked up and got a really strange feeling. It was not a good feeling. It’s hard to get the sense of the tilt in this photo but I’m looking straight up through the camera. The tower is hanging overhead.

Here is what the tower looks like from the other side, facing away. I surpressed the urge to climb up onto the pylon for a better view.

My uneasy feelings are unfounded. The local engineering authority has certified that this tower is safe to leave it as it is. It’s not going to fall.

Here is a closeup of the information sign (the English section):

I’m not sure that the term “caisson” is correct, but what it’s saying about the construction is that there is a big chunk of concrete below ground, and that a concrete pylon is holding the tower up. The whole thing sank like a spoon in a bowl of pudding.

What wasn’t immediately clear upon visiting the park is that there are also examples of twisted rails and a bulging road.

This was a tour being conducted (another thing I didn’t know about). Notice the rails.

Rails are pretty useful indicators of ground movement because they tend to stay attached to the ground as they are designed not to move, obviously.

The new replacement rails are above the old rails. I’m not sure how much of the rail movement is the result of the earthquake, or how much has been “stylized” as they had to move them out of the way for replacement construction.

There are remnants ties still attached to the rails. It’s not clear whether the original bridge collapsed or, the replacement rails were built on the original bridge.

This area experienced an upheaval and there are hills and bulges here that did not exist before.

This section of road has been preserved.

Damage like this made the road impossible to drive and the new road goes around the park.

It’s amazing to see these features in person! The power of this earthquake is unimaginable to me. From Wikipedia:

• 2,416 deaths (including missing people)
• 11,443 severely wounded
• US$9.2 billion worth of damage
• 44,338 houses completely destroyed
• 41,336 houses severely damaged

The earthquake continued to shake Taiwan throughout the night. Anecdotal stories tell of an undestroyed house sliding from one county to another during the quake, forcing the change of the owner’s address.

I’ve seen the tilting tower from highway #3 many times but never knew the story. The next time you’re in the area of Mingjian, you may want to take a stroll through the 921 Memorial Park and see these sights for yourself.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I were in Nantou and we basically stumbled upon the 921 Memorial Park in Mingjian. Actually it’s not exactly named that, but that is precisely what it is - a park dedicated to the memory of the 921 earthquake. 2,416 lives were lost in the 7.3 magnitude quake that occurred at 01:47 local time. That’s after midnight, folks. I’ve been in quite a few earthquakes, and some of them big enough to be frightening but can you imagine being awakened by a huge earthquake in the middle of the night? Surely the high numbers of people lost were due to the fact that they were home in bed when their building collapsed.

The 921 earthquake has special meaning for me. I first traveled to Taiwan in April of 2000. I visited some sites in Taichung, at the northern end of the fault line and personally saw the destruction and also some of the repair efforts underway. I will never forget looking at a landslide while someone told me that there were several hundred people still unaccounted for, and they were presumed to be buried under the landslide.

This photo is of what is called (in English) the Tilting Electric Tower. It’s a fitting memorial to the earthquake and demonstrates the extend of the damage. This tower is the centerpiece of the park, and I took a short walking tour of the park with the specific goal of reporting on it. So please join me as I take you thorough the park and we get a closer look at it’s features. But first, I want to show you some historical photos I took in 2000.

Not only has the bridge fallen, but the riverbed itself experienced a significant upheaval.

This shot (despite the raindrops on the lens) shows the story. The ground shifted by about 7 meters and the end of the bridge broke off. The waterfall is new and a result of the upheaval.

In this same location, a small temporary bridge was built, and that subsequently sank as a result of aftershocks and further activity in the area. So, a second temporary bridge was built, and it’s seen to the far left.

This is a closeup of the first temporary bridge. Opening any of these photos will take you to my flickr album for further photo browsing.

Now, back to the memorial park.

The most striking feature of the park is the tilted tower:

When you first walk down the path towards the tower, it’s a bit unnerving. Perhaps it’s just me because I’ve climbed a tower or two in my broadcast engineering days. I’ve never seen one fall but I’ve seen a few on the ground afterwards and I can tell you that a fallen tower is every engineer’s nightmare. The closer I got, the more uneasy I felt.

This just looks so wrong. The tower is leaning at an angle of 16.5 degrees. That is non-trivial! Notice the visible ring around the base. It appears as if the ground became liquid and re-solidified.

Now compare this with a shot of the nearby replacement tower and you can see that the tilting tower basically sank into the earth.

The path thorough the park takes you past, and directly underneath the tilting tower!

OK, I’m going to walk down and past the tilting tower, even though this goes against everything I know about towers!

I looked up and got a really strange feeling. It was not a good feeling. It’s hard to get the sense of the tilt in this photo but I’m looking straight up through the camera. The tower is hanging overhead.

Here is what the tower looks like from the other side, facing away. I surpressed the urge to climb up onto the pylon for a better view.

My uneasy feelings are unfounded. The local engineering authority has certified that this tower is safe to leave it as it is. It’s not going to fall.

Here is a closeup of the information sign (the English section):

I’m not sure that the term “caisson” is correct, but what it’s saying about the construction is that there is a big chunk of concrete below ground, and that a concrete pylon is holding the tower up. The whole thing sank like a spoon in a bowl of pudding.

What wasn’t immediately clear upon visiting the park is that there are also examples of twisted rails and a bulging road.

This was a tour being conducted (another thing I didn’t know about). Notice the rails.

Rails are pretty useful indicators of ground movement because they tend to stay attached to the ground as they are designed not to move, obviously.

The new replacement rails are above the old rails. I’m not sure how much of the rail movement is the result of the earthquake, or how much has been “stylized” as they had to move them out of the way for replacement construction.

There are remnants ties still attached to the rails. It’s not clear whether the original bridge collapsed or, the replacement rails were built on the original bridge.

This area experienced an upheaval and there are hills and bulges here that did not exist before.

This section of road has been preserved.

Damage like this made the road impossible to drive and the new road goes around the park.

It’s amazing to see these features in person! The power of this earthquake is unimaginable to me. From Wikipedia:

• 2,416 deaths (including missing people)
• 11,443 severely wounded
• US$9.2 billion worth of damage
• 44,338 houses completely destroyed
• 41,336 houses severely damaged

The earthquake continued to shake Taiwan throughout the night. Anecdotal stories tell of an undestroyed house sliding from one county to another during the quake, forcing the change of the owner’s address.

I’ve seen the tilting tower from highway #3 many times but never knew the story. The next time you’re in the area of Mingjian, you may want to take a stroll through the 921 Memorial Park and see these sights for yourself.

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Photos by MJ Klein In Part I, we took a look at the beautiful waters of Wulai, and the downtown tourist and shopping area. History buffs will know that Wulai has it’s own narrow-gauge rail system, known at the Log Cart. Please click on the above photo to open a larger size for reading. Hui-chen and I rode the Log Cart up to the waterfall area. Wulai is known for hot springs and the famous waterfall, but before we actually show you the waterfall itself, we want to show you the ride on the Log Cart. We walked over to the station to catch the little train. In the distance you can see the cars on the track waiting for departure. One pulled up as we were walking to the ticket window. The fare is $NT50 per adult. Hui-chen stepped into the car and waited for me to take a few shots. Our friend Jeff is behind Hui-chen. As you can see, there is room for 2 adults in each seat, and there are 2 seats per car. And, we’re off! It’s a small train and it goes slow, but it’s all relative! It seems fast when you’re riding it, especially because you breeze past buildings and other structures very closely. This shot of the track shows a bend. At this scale it’s almost scary. Do not stick your head (or anything else) out of the car! Through this last little tunnel (and it goes very dark!) we come to a stop at the waterfall area. In our next article we will show you the famous waterfall. But for now, this is what it looks like when you approach from the train.

First in series Previous in series

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I took a little sight-seeing trip to Wulai after our return from China recently.  If you haven’t been there in awhile, you should take a visit and see for yourself, what a lovely place Wulai really is.

Besides the famous waterfall, Wulai is known for these emerald green waters (and wires!).  These photos are un-processed and the colors are just how the Nikon D80 photographed them.

We’ve been to Wulai a couple of times, but the sun wasn’t out on any of those occasions.  Fortunately the colors are so vivid that even when overcast, Wulai sports some great photo opportunities.

Ideally, one would park their car in the main lot and walk up into and through the downtown area.  Like many recently renovated downtown areas in Taiwan small towns, Wulai is dedicated to tourists.  Although I normally do not like this kind of area, for some reason Wulai is able to pull it off with some grace.  If you are a “foreigner” however, you can expect the usual pandering from the vendors, so just take it in stride.  There are plenty to choose from!

Along the route to the downtown you will find various hot springs resorts.  We’ve never stayed in one of these places in the downtown area (nearby though) but from the street they looked pretty good and the prices are competitive.   You just have to deal with the stupid way people hard sell in Asia.

Wulai is known for quaint scenery like this.  You can get a room with a view on the river and relax in a hot spring tub.

Check out the varieties of food available from street vendors:

There are varieties of “mountain pig” pretty much everywhere.  Even mountain goat.  The smells wafting about are great.

Hui-chen went shopping for shoes.  She got a couple pair of really cute ones.   The Indian boss spoke Chinese very well.

This guy is pulling taffy.  He had to move very quickly to keep it off the street.  Once it went into the bucket, they were all over me to try pounding it.  I don’t blend in very well.

Hui-chen is enjoying some kind of taro snack.  The crowds were thick on Sunday.  Next time we’re going back on a weekday.

I snapped this shot of all the fresh meat you can get grilled to order.

As you walk across the bridge you can see people out on the banks.  Sometimes they party out there.  Sounds like a great time to me!

Walking through the throngs of visitors and vendors is well worth the scenic beauty of Wulai.  But there is a lot more to this lovely place and we’ll cover that in Part II!

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Photos by MJ Klein

Part of the Taiwan Mini Parks Series

Hui-chen and I were driving along the mountain ridge in Hsinpu near our home when we ran across a new park being built.

View of gun boat turrets from the road

This is one of those parks that feature decommissioned military hardware.   It seems that Taiwan’s heavy military background is destined to be on display forever, through parks such as these.

Finally, here is the restroom.  As you can see, this park is just getting started.  I’ll do an update on this park when it’s finished.  The location on top of the mountain is excellent and this should be a great place to relax.

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