Visiting Jiufen, Taiwan

On By Rick McIn food, hiking, travelLeave a comment

Almost every tourist itinerary includes Jiufen.

It’s a tiny seaside town outside Taipei City. 45 minute bus ride.

I went, actually, for the Teapot Mountain Trail — but Jufien was terrific, as well.

Jiufen Old Street is the main attraction, a narrow, winding alleyway with shops, teahouses, and restaurants that offer tourists something of a view of traditional Taiwanese life.

It was positively packed when I arrived at dusk.

Happily, I found a restaurant balcony providing a view of the chaos below. 😀

The lanterns are evocative.

There is an incredible variety of foods to try in the night market.

Old street closes early when the ice-cream mini-trucks arrive. Actually, small garbage trucks play music, trying to get tourists to get out of the way.

I stayed just above the impressive Jiufen Zhaoling Temple.

Definitely an excellent stop.

Harlan Coben’s Lazarus

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Excellent TV.

I liked it — though there are some bad reviews.

This psychological drama on Amazon Prime has a male protagonist. (Most of this genre are based on women. )

The limited series is not based on any of his books.

Lazarus is a horror-thriller television miniseries …

A forensic psychiatrist (Sam Claflin) investigates cold case murders after returning to his family home following the death of his father (Bill Nighy).

David Fynn is very good as Seth McGovern. Believable.

I do recommend it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon & Harlan Coben

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

I’ve been a big Reese Witherspoon fan since Legally Blonde (2001).

(She keeps me watching The Morning Show, for example.)

In 2017, Witherspoon started Reese’s Book Club. Quite influential.

When she finally got around to writing her own novel, she reached out first to Harlan Coben (not James Patterson 😀).

A good call. Coben is a master of the plot twist.

Gone Before Goodbye (2025) is best on audio as Reese is the voice of Army combat surgeon Maggie McCabe.

Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion.

At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion. …

Needing the money, she reluctantly flies to Russia to do plastic surgery on a reclusive Oligarch.

It’s a fast paced thriller.

Try not to pay too much attention to the plot. 😀

Porkchop is easily the most interesting character.

I did find the emerging medical technology and technical details of trauma surgery quite interesting. They certainly had good researchers.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Below the Belt by Stuart Woods

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One of the better books in the long, long series. An unusually strong premise.

Below the Belt (2017) is in a series of guilty pleasure reads. We enjoy the life of the rich and powerful vicariously.

An impressive gentleman, Nelson Knott, launches a 3rd political party in the USA.

But he’s hiding some secrets. Backed by dirty scoundrels.

Somehow Stone Barrington finds himself in the middle of it.

Former Russian CIA mole Ed Rawls, a hilarious old curmudgeon, happens to live near Stone. He entrusts Stone to hang on to the locked case that has dirt on Knott.

What will Knott’s thugs do to get the case back?

101-story Skyscraper in Taipei

On By Rick McIn travel1 Comment

Taipei 101 is a 508 m (1,667 ft), 101-story skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. …

It was officially classified as the world’s tallest building from its opening on 31 December 2004, until it was dethroned by the Burj Khalifa.

Now the 11th tallest building in the world, I wasn’t all that keen to pay the ticket price — but I’m glad I did.

The elevator is the world’s fastest: 5th to 89th floor in 37 seconds up to 60.6 km/h (37.7 mph).

That was cool.

The vistas are positively scary. It feels you are above the clouds and totally removed from the earth. I went at sunset — as did all these folks.

Apparently it’s built to survive the Pacific Ring of Fire‘s earthquakes and the region’s tropical storms.

This tuned mass damper is designed to  reduce mechanical vibrations,

I only paid for a ticket to the indoor observation deck on 88th and 89th floors. You can pay extra to go higher, if you wish.

Here’s the view from nearby Elephant mountain.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I have Vertigo

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October 2025 I had my 3rd ever episode of Vertigo.

Happily, it only lasted about 10 minutes. The previous two, over a decade ago, lasted much longer. This time I was able to resist vomiting.

Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. …

It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspiration, or difficulties walking. …

Vertigo accounts for about 2–3% of emergency department visits in the developed world. …

In fact, the first time a police woman called the ambulance. And I underwent a half dozen tests at the hospital.

It was concluded that I had normal Vertigo, requiring no follow-up medications or treatment.

Here’s one physical treatment that I have tried. I can’t claim it works, however.

vertigo

A Comparison of Two Home Exercises for Benign Positional Vertigo: Half Somersault versus Epley Maneuver

I do suffer motion sickness, as well — but only on amusement park rides.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

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A surprise. Normally I don’t like fantasy fiction — but this one is more of a murder mystery.

A high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. … it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

The Tainted Cup is a 2024 fantasy murder mystery novel by Robert Jackson Bennett. 

… won the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel …

The two main characters are very likeable.

Anagosa “Ana” Dolabra is hilarious. She’s the troublesome but brilliant, eccentric investigator. 

Known for her almost impossibly insightful deductions, she is often depicted wearing a blindfold to limit sensory input.

If Ana is Sherlock Holmes, Dinios “Din” Kol is Watson, narrating the story.

He’s young. Inexperienced. Unconfident. BUT Ana needs Din because he has augmented perfect memory. He is her eyes and ears.

Din stumbles around the crime scene, later recounting what he heard and saw to Ana. She then makes sense of what’s happened.

Very original.

Slow Horses – season 5

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Slow Horses series 5 may be my favourite, so far.

Roddy Ho features prominently in the plot. Honey trap.

Nick Mohammed as Zafar Jaffrey, the Mayor of London is good.

James Callis as Claude Whelan (series 4–5), the bumbling, over-promoted new Director General of MI5 or ‘First Desk’ is fantastic.

Bad guys are Libyans.

I laugh out loud at every episode. Especially at Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) being so hilariously inappropriate. 😀

Looking forward to season 6.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Farewell Singapore

On By Rick McIn cycling, hiking, travel1 Comment

My new home away from home in S.E. Asia.

I used to consider Hong Kong my jumping off point for Asia — but I don’t like the dictator-for-life who now runs that city.

I first got to Singapore in 1996. Amazing airport. Fantastic zoos.

Everything WORKS in Singapore. It’s ultra-modern in most ways.

Very welcoming for tourists.

Public transportation is a dream. You tap a credit card to take any subway or bus. And they run everywhere frequently.

I stay in Little India, the least expensive area. Most of the hostels are there.

Mustafa Centre is a highlight. Open 24 hours. Packed at all hours of the day and night. An experience. 

YES, Singapore is expensive. But there are plenty of free attractions to keep you busy if you don’t want to pay $30 for a museum entrance.

For example, Shimano Cycling World will rent you a high end road bike for $150. Or you can take one of their mountain bikes for free. Nice.

I did a lot of hiking on my most recent trip. The Botanic Gardens are excellent and mostly free.

It’s a surprisingly green city.

Aerial view of Gardens by the Bay

I explored Sentosa island more this time.

My A.I. Halloween costume in front of Universal Studios globe.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More PHOTOS

Too OLD for Adventure Travel?

On By Rick McIn about Rick, health & fitness, humour, travelLeave a comment

6-7 is oh so last year.

I turned 68-years-young today.

I’m finally old enough to join the Old Fart Adventure Travel TikTok Crew. 😀

On the road in Singapore.

I’ve had many birthdays on the backpacker trail.

Tam and Les bought me birthday lunch in Little India. We had a robot waiter — though it was too uncoordinated to actually make it to our table. A waiter brought it the last mile.

For decades already I’ve been the oldest person in most hostels. I’ve grown used to the distinction.

Mostly, the kids treat me as a bit of a novelty: How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?

Life is short ➙ If you want to travel, travel.