While Hat Rin’s full moon, half moon, and dark moon parties garner the most press and biggest crowds, it is Koh Phangan’s quieter beaches that are the island’s real treasure. Both Thong Sala and Hat Rin are the main centers for tourists, especially those that have never been before, or for those seeking the sex industry. Hat Rin is nicknamed “Little Bangkok” by seasoned travelers for it’s seedy nightlife. A short taxi-truck ride or boat taxi away can transport you to the kind of places that look exactly like the postcard-perfect images you see in travel guides: golden sand beaches, quaint rustic huts, palm trees, and the aquamarine tropical ocean. Stay on the beaches on the southern part of the island between Thong Sala and Hat Rin, around Ban Tai and Ban Kai, or venture to the east or west coast of the island depending on the season: when the waves are calm on one side, which makes for great snorkeling, they are bigger on the other, which is fun for bodysurfing and splashing about. You can arrange day trips in Hat Rin that will take you to several of the beaches that are accessible by boat only, such as Bottle Beach and Hat Yao (Long Beach), and include snorkeling, lunch, and a chance to explore the quieter parts of the island.
Dec. 9 to Dec. 15 When architect Lee Chung-yao (李重耀) heard that the Xinbeitou Train Station was to be demolished in 1988 for the MRT’s Tamsui line, he immediately reached out to the owner of Taiwan Folk Village (台灣民俗村). Lee had been advising Shih Chin-shan (施金山) on his pet project, a 52-hectare theme park in Changhua County that aimed to showcase traditional Taiwanese architecture, crafts and culture. Shih had wanted to build all the structures from scratch, but Lee convinced him to acquire historic properties and move them to the park grounds. Although the Cultural
The Taipei Times reported last week that housing transactions fell 15.3 percent last month, to under 20,000 units. However, the market boomed for the first eight months of the year, and observers expect it to show growth for the year as a whole. The fall was due to Central Bank intervention. “The negative impact of credit controls grew evident for the third straight month,” said Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-ter (曾敬德), according to the report. Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) in October said that the Central Bank implemented selective credit controls in September to cool the housing
During the Japanese colonial era, remote mountain villages were almost exclusively populated by indigenous residents. Deep in the mountains of Chiayi County, however, was a settlement of Hakka families who braved the harsh living conditions and relative isolation to eke out a living processing camphor. As the industry declined, the village’s homes and offices were abandoned one by one, leaving us with a glimpse of a lifestyle that no longer exists. Even today, it takes between four and six hours to walk in to Baisyue Village (白雪村), and the village is so far up in the Chiayi mountains that it’s actually
The results of the 2024 US presidential election rattled the country and sent shockwaves across the world — or were cause for celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is “polarization?” “Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview ahead of Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.” The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was
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