Last month I and Selina made an unforgettable trip to Hualien over the weekend. As if the joy of visiting breathtaking landscape of Taiwan east coast was too much to redeem my spirits I have been heaped with truck load of work ever since I came back. So its no brainer to guess why I haven’t had time to write about it. While I still lay buried under a pile of work I have managed to get my writing hand out in open and string together some words and pictures from the Hualien excursion for you.

Our journey to Hualien started from Jhubei when Sun was still hours away from appearing on the east coast. As our train smoothed its way towards Hualien and the Sun rose in the east I savored taking in sights of fascinating eastern Taiwan country side bathing in early morning sunshine. There were countless green rice paddies stretching till the foothills of Taiwan central mountains on my right and romping towards the sea on my left. No signs of beetle nut farms though. As we pulled away from Yilan county mountains that stood farther until now started closing in on us. and soon I could no longer see the mountain tops from my window seat. I actually ended up photographing only parts of mountains which turned out to be shaky and blurry images of a gigantic wall of rocks blanketed with a green cover of trees.

Mountains moved back a little bit as the train approached Hualien city. We quickly gathered ourselves up and got off the train. We needed to take an underpass on our way out. What I saw in the underpass was a pleasant surprise. This underpass hosts numerous picture boards showing images of tourist places to visit in Hualien, Hiking trails, lakes, ocean park, hot water springs and what not. These boards also included useful information such as distances of each of them from the train station,time needed to get there, approx time required to check out the place or take a hike and so on. I’m a lazy bum when it comes to travel planning so I had no idea which place we were going to visit except of course Taroko George so we spent about 30 mins watching those pictures and reading the details trying to finalize which places we should set upon for our small visit.

Hualien train station underpass

Overwhelmed and still undecided we got out of the station. We grabbed some tourist brochures from the information counters and had a quick breakfast at 7-11 inside the train station before getting on another train for a 20 mins ride to Sincheng.

Since it is just few kms away from Tarako George we decided to stay in a small town called Sincheng. After taking some much needed rest we took off to Hualien city on a rented bike. Closer to the city we had a fabulous lunch at a sushi restaurant. On the way to Hualien city we saw a Dong Hwa University sign and pictures from the brochures popped up in front of my eyes. Since we were so close we thought of giving it a shot.

While riding to Dong Hwa University campus we came upon many gorgeous landscapes and this was one of the stop-and-take-a-picture moment.

Dong Hwa University campus didn’t turn out to be that close in the end. To be specific we rode about 40 km starting from Sincheng. But I am glad we went there. Firstly I enjoyed riding to Dong Hwa and secondly it brought back memories of my college days. The campus is impressive and scenic as it is situated between coastal mountain range and the central mountain range. We actually ended up spending our afternoon there.

Administration Building of Dong Hwa University

Back view of the administration building. I love the way they have used those rocks instead of clearing out the whole space

It was Saturday so understandably the campus was pretty quiet. We sat besides the lake trying to take in the emptiness that brooded over the place and in the mean time also endeavored for some childish pebble throws in the lake. The sky was gloomy most of the time but dark clouds gathered to make some random shapes and then disappeared once in a while.

Still water, early Saturday quietness and Selina

Couple of families also turned out on the campus for outdoor weekend fun

I could hear some muffled noises coming from one of the distant buildings. Soon they got louder and I could hear distinct notes of piano, rhythmic drumming beats and tuning of a flute. It looked like they were coming from a recreation hall/building across the lake. We walked along the lake shore to take a peek. Couple of students had occupied one of the empty tables set below the porch like extension of recreation hall. I didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with our presence so decided against entering the hall where students were practicing their performance for some function, posters of which were hung outside the hall. In addition to those posters, we came upon an exhibition that was housed in the empty passage between two arms of the recreation building. Migrant workers and their life on this small island was the main focus of this exhibition. Judging from the state of several posters, it looked like the outdoor exhibition was over or wasn’t maintained any more. Nevertheless it presented fantastic photo ops.

Exhibition with Recreation hall in the background facing the lake.

Posters lined along the wall

A curious onlooker carefully observing the poster

Around 4 pm it started to drizzle in patches. We thought it would go away but it refused to do so and instead only grew with each passing minute. We had no rain gear on us and hence unwillingly or so decided to get away before it could get any worse. Since it was already late in the afternoon in addition to the gloomy weather we postponed our plan to visit Taroko George to the next day. On our way to Dong Hwa I was fascinated by the East Rift valley view and was interested to have a closer look hence we scanned the tourist brochures for nearby tourist locations and learned that Liyu lake was our best chance to get closer to the valley on fast track.

These are the times when a courageous attempt may turn out to be a stupid one. Cars were whizzing past every other minute and just behind where I stood in the middle of the road was a blind turn, so any car could have come zipping around the corner and thumped me on its way to Liyu lake. But ahoy it was my day ;)

Ride to Liyu lake was long but we enjoyed every bit of it. For first few kms the sprinkles followed us in a furious attempt to drench us but soon they ran out of steam making our rest of the ride quite pleasant. We even caught some sunshine on our way to Liyu Lake that helped us run dry quickly. After we left Hualien highway we rode along the river banks till the valley and then crossed over the river bridge. Immediately after the bridge we found ourselves riding in the opposite direction from where we came only this time we were on the other side of the river. Approximately after our odometer hit 35 km mark we came upon this serene Liyu lake hidden among the mountains.

This is where we spent our evening and the view

We bought coffee from the nearby store and for the rest evening sat on the steps along the banks watching people paddling duck shaped boats around the lake and fishing in the shallow waters. Although the place was buzzing with weekend visitors the vastness of surroundings muffled the noises. Lots of people carried their camping gears meaning there are camping grounds nearby the lake for the interested people.

It had started to get dark around 6:30 so we got back on our bike and headed back to Hualien city. On our way back we met up with Selina’s cousin and her friends from work. They showed us around the city and also took us to the newly built Hualien harbor wharf. The place was pitch dark and I pretty much forgot rest of things apart from watching ships coming in from sea,docking and un-docking(?) at the harbor. Later they also took us to QiXingTan lake. I also pretty much forgot rest of the things apart from catching fireflies/lightning bugs and collecting exceptionally smooth pebbles with strange patterns [thats what fun sounds like when you are alone with three girls] Nevertheless I enjoyed watching moon bashed view of QiXingTan (Seven Star Lake) and I hope I can make it there again to see it in the day time.
Around 1 am we returned to our hotel in Sincheng. The ride back felt rather long [Question: why the return journeys always feels longer than they actually are?] Of course the stray dogs kept us entertained in the mean time.

Please check my Flickr Set for more pictures from Hualien excursion and stay tuned for the Hualien Part II.

Company that I work for is in its early years and couple of months ago someone realized we haven’t been out as a group hence it was decided we would head out on May 1st for an outing. Since it was Thurday and we had to work the next day, we opted out of Hiking and instead went for a leisurely late morning walk followed by a lunch late afternoon.

Our company is based in Jhubei, Hsinchu county and since most of the people live nearby we decided to head north instead and planned a day trip to Yilan.
First we visited “Luodong Sports Park” in Yilan township just as everybody else does. Its a huge park and I mean real huge.47 hectors to be specific. It is meant for people of all ages. Young legs can enjoy knocking tennis balls on couple of courts or sweat on basketball courts or have a relaxing time swimming in the pool. One can also rent bicycle and ride inside the park. There is a small artificial lake in the middle. Older people can enjoy a peaceful walk or else sit in the wooden posts nearby the lake or spend time feeding fish and/or ducks in the lake.

A fascinating building lurks behind the park

Only tennis court that was not occupied

Riding bicycle inside the park seems to be a favorite with visiting people

squirrel noshing on orange

Nice spot to spend quite hours

Park lake
Freaking hot weather made us take several breaks during our walk around the park. Just nearby the lake there is a small shop that sells drinks and cakes in addition to renting bicycles. Couple of people brought their families along with them. We spent couple of hours in the park as everybody seemed to enjoy the peaceful environment away from the daily grind. The park also houses an awesome star grazing dune. Since the park is huge and there ain’t many lights one should be able enjoy a beautiful starry night in late evening there.

Around 12:30 we left the park and headed out to Sanshing which is famous for Green Onions. We stopped by a small restaurant somewhere in Sanshing. Loads of people made a stop there to nosh on hot and tasty “Zhong yo bing” (Green Onion Pancakes) and something called “Po roh” or “Pu rho” (spare the romanization of Chinese words).

Green Onion Pancakes. Personally I prefer “Zhong zhua Bing” though,

“Po Ro” it looks pretty similar to favorite Indian snack known as Bhajiya or Pakoda. Big difference between them is of pork filing used in “Po Ro”

The restaurant seemed one of its kind and it was interesting to see so many people flocking the place, waiting 30 to 60 mins for the tables to clear up. We also did wait for 30 mins. I usually do not like to wait for food but there was plenty of photo ops nearby so I didn’t mind.

Green onion fields in Sanshing

Stuffed with food next I was looking forward to see pacific ocean but the food was too good I guess as it got better of the other people and they decided to opt out of any physical activity. This in fact turned out to be great decision as instead of sea shore we went to a wood clog museum .

When I first heard about it the first thought that came to my mind was “How in the world someone can walk using some freaking wood shoes?”. Naturally I was pretty curious to see it. The attentive staff at the museum walked us to the second floor where they showed us a video that talked about the long history of wood clogs and Baimi Community in Suao and it made me realize the significance of their tradition and the overall clogging industry. It was a fascinating experience to say the least. Today I dug in for more information and found these two amazing piece of work done to highlight wood clog museum. I will strongly suggest to go ahead and check both the articles in taipei times and my favorite magazine in Taiwan, taiwan review magzine for more information.

wood clog museum

hand painted wooden soles

Clogs on display

The museum also has some huge wooden clogs on display.

well you could either slip into your shoes or sleep on your shoes ;)

Apart from artwork clogs there are apparently a huge selection of clogs especially designed to massage ones feet

Wood clog museum is located at a gorgeous location only problem being the huge stone quarries behind the museum dumping fine sand on it on daily basis. Well there are regulations for that kind of things but it still has some noticeable effect on the surroundings.

On final note I would say it was an excellent outing considering it was long due and everyone seemed to have a great time visiting park and the museum not to forget the amazing lunch we had in Sanshing.
For more photos check out my Yilan Day Trip Flickr set

Well Jiufen is known for many things. It is a popular weekend getaway for Taipei residents and a tourist attraction. One can enjoy a magnificent vista of surrounding mountains and their foothills merging into sea or hike on Mt. Jilong for a beautiful seascape or visit Jinguashi for another handful of tourist attractions. I and Selina decided to spend a relaxing afternoon there. Our plan was to step through the alleys of Jiufen old street, visit one of the many teahouses on Jinshan street for an afternoon tea and possibly in the late evening have a good look at the well talked about night-view from Jiufen and then head back to Taipei.

Jiufen being a very popular destinations is quite easy to reach. You can catch an hour long bus ride from Zongxiao Fuxing MRT station or as we did, from Taipei take a 45 min train ride to Reifang and get on a 15 min bus ride to Jiufen from there.

We arrived Jiufen at around noon and quickly got into the business of exploring old street shops. We were starving so first up were food shops. Apart from some regulars like meatball noodles and vegetable soups we feasted on some possibly Jiufen specials like peitou meatball and mixed-vegetable rools with a scoop of ice cream.

Peitou meatball

Mixed vegetable Rolls with peanut powder and two ice cream scoops

[Diclaimer: The two food pictures ain't mine. I copied them from a Chinese websites selling these products. The url is generated on search so I can not link them here.]

Its amusing to see how they made peanut powder for the rolls.

Jiufen Old Street

Old street is known for its stepped alleyways illuminated by Chinese red lanterns hung all the way on both sides. Apart from food stalls it boasts exceptional number of exquisite artwork shops [I came across a crazy mask store that had a ghost like ambiance], stores selling leather products and several tea shops. There are also quite a few stores that sells Indian stylized cloths. Like many other Taiwan market places its unbelievable how they house so many shops in such a small place. As we made our way up to the Jiufen elementary school we had already spent three hours navigating through the crowds, getting in and out of numerous shops, queuing up to buy food. There is a great store that sells Yu Yuen [yam or taro balls I guess] at the far end of old street. We bought some, sat on the steps of school and enjoyed the magnificent evening view of Jiufen still bustling with flocks of people. Our plan for an afternoon tea on Jinshan street was long forgotten.

Mt. Jilong on our right looked inviting so we decided to spend exploring Jiufen at night and take a hike up on Mt. Jilong early next morning. That meant next we had to look for a nice hotel to spend our night. Finding a accommodation for a night in Jiufen looked pretty easy as lots of locals provide their private house rooms for accommodation but we went for a B&B hotel run by a Taiwanese and his Vietnamese wife. As most Taiwanese tend to be, this friendly & courteous couple managed a lovely little cozy hotel up on the hill of Jiufen. Surprisingly the night view room cost us a meagre 1700 NT$ as compared to ones near/on old streets costing well over 3600 NT$ per night.

After an hour or two of resting our tired knees we went back to old street for some shopping. It was late evening and street had receded as most of the day tourist left the scene. The shops were still open and it had become hell lot easier to get in to have a look at stuff without bumping into others.It was hard not to be bitten by a shopping bug. I picked up a nice wallet for myself and as the “Mothers Day” is nearing, it was fitting to get something for my mother. I bought a brown leather handbag for her, which I must admit was chosen by Selina. I am quite pathetic when it comes to choose anything that concerns fashion or style.

We came back to the hotel only to find that It shared a wall with a graveyard. I guess that solves the mystery of low fares as compared with the other places LOL. I don’t believe in good or bad spirits or ghosts for that matter but I guess majority of Taiwanese do so Selina was pretty uncomfortable with this fact. At least our rooms were on the opposite side facing Jiufen town. A spectacular night panorama of Jiufen helped calm her nerves. I haven’t had time for reading lately so I spent my rest of the evening reading notes written by Che on his motorcycle ride he took with his friend across south america and also peeking through my window once in a while to see ships coming in and out of Keelung bay and circling around Keelung Islet [Peace Island].

It was the glare coming from window that finally poked me and brought me back from my dreamless slumber at 8 am next morning. I stuck my head out of the window to breathe fresh air. Sun was well up on the hill behind our hotel and showered left half of Jiufen on steep mountainside with morning sunshine. I felt it was uncomfortably hot at that hour. The heat in addition to the fact I will be heading to Yilan coming thursday for a small outdoor trip with my colleagues made me drop the plan of climbing up Mt. Jilong. So instead we decided to grab the free breakfast at the hotel and head for Jishan street for early afternoon tea as we had decided initially.

Its weird now when I think about it that 2 years of living in Taiwan has had made me kinda mild and how I was feeling 30 plus temperature an awful lot hotter than it really was considering I come from a small town in India which boasts 40 plus average temperatures during summer.

Since it was pretty hot when we stepped outside and we were still craving for Yu Yuen from the earlier evening we made our way back to the store at the end of old street again. On our way we came across a group of old people taking their photography lessons. Jiufen alleyways provides perfect photo ops. Unfortunately at this point I realized my camera had started playing antics on me. For auto settings the pictures were coming as if the lens were staring right into a bright white light. I was determined to take some nice pictures from this trip so I spent lot of time figuring out what went wrong and how can I fix that. Finally it turned out that I could no longer take pictures with auto setting and auto focus. If only I zoom in on the subject I could take a decent picture. This too was of erratic nature and some times I had to retake many shots. Nevertheless I still managed to take some decent pictures.

My lousy attempt at art photography

I couldn’t find any coffee shop nearby.

On the way to our hotel.

After feasting on yet another Yu Yuen we took a small path along the sidewalls of school to Wufankeng Park. We were not interested to actually visit the park. We found the path finally merged into Jishan street and that is where we chose a small cafe & tea house to spend our afternoon. It was too early to order for afternoon tea so coffee was first on the menu. Coffee was terrible but the place was quite nice. Unlike other retro teahouses on Jishan street this one had a modern look with red glossy walls, simple but classy curtains and lanterns and Bose speakers were playing impressive collection of smooth jazz tunes.

Our Coffee table with a spectacular backdrop of Keelung bay.

Coffee table for smokers.

Natural light added a great flavor to the ambience of cafe shop.

I went up to see the the tables on the open terrace. It was too windy out there so we decided to sit indoor.

The cafe shop is situated at a perfect location, right in the middle of the mountain range that appears to embrace Jiufen village. With my camera that limiting me to take wide angle shot which was exactly what required to capture the scene out of the cafe window, least I could do was to take a video. I took it from the balcony for more clarity as glass from the window was reflecting the cafe shop lights.

The video first shows Mt. Jilong on the right and numerous other sea facing teahouses. It then moves across to left panning on Keelung bay and surroundings lower parts of the mountain merging into the sea. The turtle shaped island in the distance is known as Keelung Islet or Peace Island.

Finally it was time for our much awaited afternoon tea :D

Afternoon tea set for 280 NT$ included a fruit tea pot, a small smoked chiken pizza and a milk pudding for desserts.

Reluctantly or so we left the shop at around 5 pm and walked along the Jishan street. The decision to choose the cafe shop at the far end of Jishan street turned out to be an excellent one as we saw increasing number of people crowded in the teahouses which were at the start of Jishan street.

Obligatory picture of the steps flanked with teahouses on both sides

It was a fantastic getaway and nice weekend albeit a little expensive one I guess I won’t mind to get back there in near future again.

[Just a quick note before you read the post. I haven't posted for a while as things had got real hectic after coming back from India. Now it seems like the tide has moved back a little bit giving me some space to breathe. Hopefully I will be able to write more consistently to improve on my writing and also keep you guys informed that I'm still here]

Long before I started my blog, I had made my way to Yangmingshan for the first time. Unfortunately it started raining as if rain Gods had kept it on hold and the moment I got off the bus they let it go. I had nothing on me, well of course except my cloths. As I stood there, stupefied, the kind bus driver took pity on me and gave me an umbrella, light brown and white flowers painted on the top, apparently left behind by someone. I paced couple of yards out of the bus station in my desperation to find some shelter. Moments later strong winds sent the umbrella whirling down into the thickets crowded on the roadside slope. I turned around to ascertain if I had caught eye of the bus driver who gave it to me. Luckily I hadn’t. As others scurried to get under some shed to save themselves from the pouring water, I ran across the street and into the Starbucks. As expected I found it packed to the rafters as numerous people took refuge there. I ordered a latte and spent couple of hours running dry there. It looked like rain wouldn’t let up so I had no choice but to make a dash for the return bus to get back into Taipei.

Several months later I decided to see Yangmingshan again. This time I started at 1 pm from Jhongli on a Sunday afternoon, a big mistake. Loads of people decided to hop on the train for Taipei that afternoon. I had to let go of one train and wait another 25 minutes for the next one simply because I couldn’t get through the crowd before the familiar whistle for departure rang. In those next 25 minutes more people got on the platform than those who boarded the first one. But I fought my way through the crowd with success this time. It was almost 5:30 pm when I reached Yangmingshan after a rather long ride on the blue local train and a 30 minute wait for the bus at Jiantan. Already low on energy, thanks to the long hours I spent at work and the commute, I felt totally exhausted and had no mood to explore the trails. I just walked around in the thick maze in and around the bus station for 20 minutes and decided to call it a day. I still have no idea why I did that. I went there to see Yangmingshan and Taipei at night but moments after I set foot on the yellow mountain I wanted to get back to my cozy little place and cuddle up in my bed. Besides that the haze was so thick that I couldn’t see Taipei city lights. So I gave in to my lazy self and went back to Jiantan MRT station. Much to my surprise I saw a Shilin-JungLi Bus pulling into the small bus stop in front of Shilin Night market. I took my chance to get on the bus presuming “Jungli” would be JhongliI. A correct call as it turned out to be Jhongli, my home in Taiwan, in the end.

Last to last Saturday, determined to put my Yangmingshan fiascoes behind me once for all, Me along with Selina made third attempt to see beauty of Yangminshan which I had only known through pictures, I got on a MRT at Dapinglin where I was staying overnight. 13 stations later we were standing at Jiantan station. While we waited for Anurag and his wife Reena, I found this little piece of paper on “information for visitors” counter that read “Turn left at exit 1 and take red 5 bus”.

We stepped outside the station and turned left to look for Red 5 bus as advised. I saw bunch of people getting on a red bus at the bus stop. We had to make a quick dash to get in and we made it in time.

Our first stop on Yangmingshan was the same Startbucks that I took cover in on my first visit. It was almost 10:30 in the morning and I was starving. A hot Latte and a ham-cheese-puff later we were off to the next stop. We hoped on to a smaller bus this time to Zhuzihu.

There we came across a small plot of ground that housed numerous Calla Lily flowerpots. Lots of people made a stop there to snap a picture or two with the flowers.

After spending couple of minutes there we were clueless about the next stop so we just walked along the road. Couple of yards down the road an old lady cajoled us to visit her Calla lily flower farm. She led us through a narrow alleyway coated with black tar along a school building compound and then onto a back street at the end of which we came upon her farm.

School playground as seen from the back street

I comforted myself with the mild breeze and walked along a narrow strip that cut through the farm midway, watching the beauty of Calla lilies as they seemed to quiver and swayed to and fro in the wind.

Head over to Carrie’s My Several World for beautiful Calla Lily pictures and thorough information.

Other farms seemed to attract more people than the one we were at. For 100 NT$ one could wear the giant rubber boots, get all muddy in the farm land and gather 7 flowers to take home. As we didn’t want to carry any package with us we were just happy to watch other people enjoy taking pictures on the farm and get their bunch of flowers.

45 minutes later we were on another mini bus to Cingtiangang Visitor Center. On reaching there I occupied myself with my point and shoot camera while Anurag tried to decipher the map mounted besides the bus stop. I took some lousy pictures of less imposing edifices covered with mist.

After much contemplation over several trails Anurag decided to hike along Jianboli Trail which later turned out to be an excellent decision. As what we gathered from the map, the trail was said to be about 3 KM descent from Cingtiangang visitor center to somewhere down the yellow mountain on to another bus stop. Along the trail we were supposed to come upon Jyansih Waterfall and Cingtiangang grassland. Before setting off ourselves on the trail we dutifully stuffed our backpacks with loads of chips and water.

We sauntered along a thin path occasionally covered with small puddles through an all green world. It had rained earlier in the morning but through out the walk we didn’t hit a single drop of water except some shot from the tree tops by the wind. First several hundred meters traversed on an even surface with couple of turns at random angles.

Silence on this less crowded path enthralled me. I realized noises of the daily grind such as the microwave buzzer, rings of office IP phones and the indecipherable conversations that follow them, “door closing/opening” messages on the elevator, occasional printer cry for “Out of paper”, buzz from the coffee brewer were left far behind me. We walked in this somewhat sombre environment mostly due to the heavy mist that brooded over the trail, content, in small passages without uttering a word for several minutes at times.

Soon we hit Jyansih waterfall. It wasn’t a great sight but nonetheless the sound of water rumbling and rustling through an uneven surface and finally crashing on the feet of a giant greenish steep rock amused us. Anurag apparently tired from the walk jumped at the opportunity to cool off his feet. He quickly took off his shoes and got into the water. Anurag amused himself with the streaming water running through the corners between the bed rocks formed at random angles and later coaxed me into getting in the rocky bed. I took off my shoes and carefully put my feet into the water. At first freaking cold water sent shivers up to my spine but then it was all fun. While wondering what it could have hidden underneath I picked my spot on a small neat rock that I expected to hold my weight which I guess it did

While sitting on the waterfall’s uneven surface I could see this small stony bridge with rugged looking wooden railings. Lack of light and usual limitations of my camera made it difficult to capture waterfall scenes. After a brief stop at the waterfall we resumed our journey to the next destination, Cingtiangang Grassland. Before grassland plateau which is actually off the course of main trail by 400 meters, we came upon a magnificent field. It looked like a ranch reserved for buffaloes enclosed by high wooden rails. Since the buffaloes were nowhere near the ranch we spent time taking some more pictures.

Selina catching her breath

Anurag and Reena

I have put up a small video to let you better understand the beauty of that spot.

Grassland plateau disappointed us as we found the mud brought over by the overnight rain blanketed it hiding all grass underneath it. That crushed my mid afternoon lie-down-and-live-in-the-moment fantasy. Nevertheless that 800 meter diversion was all worth.

Soon the mist took over the grassland forcing us to flee the place and rejoin the main trail. On rejoining we found the trail became a steep descent. Among several others one thing that I like about hiking most is it makes me forget all the good/bad/ugly things in the life and just focus on getting onto that next spot without crashing and tumbling down the hill. It feels like a kind of Zen meditation to me. Rest of the walk back down the mountain went in peaceful retrospection. Towards the end out of nowhere we directly came upon a civilized road, right besides a restaurant. Evidently there we saw a bus stop with a small crowd waiting for a bus. We waited for a while and then took a bus back to Jiantan MRT station.
For more pictures please check my Yangmingshan Flickr set

Before

After

Inspired by guest post at unclutterer.com from Leo of zenhabits.net fame :D In reality this procrastination of clearing my desk was thrust upon me by my somewhat busy schedule but this afternoon when some gentlemen took a visit to our office I realized how uncluttered and gross my desk had become. I felt embarrassed. Didn’t take me a great deal of time to clear my desk as I just dumped everything that was on the desk into a carton :P