Further Camping Adventures in Taiwan

Photos by MJ Klein, including geotagged and FOOD photos!

Guoxing, Nantou

We went back to the first place we camped in Taiwan: Guoxing.  On this trip we were using our new tent and I got shots of the setup and features of the tent.  The brand name of the tent is Adisi and is a Taiwanese home grown brand.

The tent structure remains attached to the quick-setup frame, so you don’t have to take it down.

These very clever joints fold and lock into place, making it very easy to set up the frame with the tent attached.

After the frame is set up, all that remains is to install the frame components for the foyer, and then put on the rain fly.

This is the tent and additional frame in the front for the foyer, awaiting the addition of the rain fly.

Notice the die-cast aluminum feet on the frame.  The inner strap is the tent.  The rain fly cleverly snaps into a connector on the outside of the foot.  To be honest, after seeing this tent go up, I think this is the most intelligently designed tent I have ever seen.

The rain fly is also well designed.  All zippers are covered with flaps that keep out the rain.

The rain fly has 10 little pockets like this, that contain tie-downs.

If you had high winds where you’re camping, these 10 tie-downs would hold the rain fly secure.

As you can see, the tie-downs are provided at 2 levels: at the top and mid points of the rain fly.

The foyer has 2 entrances, making it very convenient.

There are tie-downs for all the inside flaps too.

This is the 6-person sized tent and the foyer is very generous.  The 8-person tent is even larger.

This the the rear of the tent, after setup.  The red flap can be set up as an awning and there is also a rear entrance to the tent if you desire to use that too.  Notice the air vents up at the top.  This tent has plenty of ventilation and did not have a moisture build-up problem overnight.

This shot shows how close we were to other tents.  Also there is a large awning where we camped.  We used that for a dining and relaxing area.

While we were setting up things, someone made these chocolate pancake things.  Really good.

This is the front of the tent with the foyer.  Notice the stainless quad pod to the left.

We got Phoenix her own camping chair and she loves sitting in it.

Burning out the 12″ Dutch oven prior to using it.  After I burned it out, I scrubbed it with running water.

Pork short ribs.

Onion and garlic added.

I had just gotten this quad pod for cooking with the Dutch oven.

In this tight area, I would have preferred a tripod to the quad pod.  Three points don’t rock but getting four legs to rest on an uneven surface is difficult.  Nevertheless, the quad pod did it’s job.

High ISO photo of the finished product.

Meanwhile, other food was being prepared.

Shot of our dining area.

The pork short ribs were a big hit apparently.

Someone whipped up this bacon and asparagus dish, and it was great!

One of the more interesting things I noticed at this campsite is the Norfolk Island Pine trees.

Touwu, Miaoli

We went to another campsite, a lot closer where we live.  The weather wasn’t so nice and it rained a bit.

This is our Adisi tent.

Phoenix spent much of her time running around with the other kids.

This young girl grew quite attached to Phoenix and looked after her like an older sister.

I’m not used to such high-density camping.  But for Taiwanese, this is normal.

The above 2 shots are of the main avenue in the center, with campsites along each side.

Later we went to a park in Dahu Township, Miaoli.

Here we see the kids petting an abandoned dog in the park.  He’s been roughed up in fights, apparent by the battle scars.

We went into town to find a place to eat, and Phoenix, loving tunnels of all sorts, couldn’t resist this playground version.

This is where we ate (geotagged for your convenience)

Phoenix anticipates the dishes…

Cold chicken (“oil chicken”).

Squid and vegetables.

Bamboo soup.

Fried seafood.

Mountain pork.

Kale.

Sliced pork with sauce.

The reason I took this photo is because this road is called an “old street” which in Taiwan, means a tourist street with old buildings.  Only I couldn’t find any old buildings – just this wooden facade, so I photographed it.  Even our own Hukou Old Street is better than this Old Street.

A few more turns around the tunnel and it’s back to camp.

In the evening, fires were lit and food cooked.

This shot shows the awning that we had to put up because of drizzling rain.  It was too low for me to walk under and quite inconvenient for cooking with the Dutch oven.

We used this shelter for a dining area.

This area of Miaoli is known for strawberries, and we picked some up on our way back to camp.  Phoenix loves strawberries and the young girl mentioned earlier, enjoyed feeding them to Phoenix.

Somewhat bored, Phoenix plays with a flashlight.

Later, my wife told me that the kids were making “taco” and I had visions of Mexican food.  Then I took a look and found out they were making “takoyaki” balls.

Takoyaki is made with a waffle-iron type appliance with 1/2 round depressions.  One adds pieces of octopus and then pours batter into the depressions as shown here.

After a few minutes, the 1/2 ball shape is turned over with a pointed stick and it starts to form a complete ball.

The kids really enjoyed making these.  I have to say they were excellent.

Meanwhile, other fare was being prepared.

This is the only photo of a Thai style seafood salad prepared by Hui-chen’s sister.  Hastily photographed, it didn’t last long.

This is a shot of some excellent fish and bacon I had for dinner.

Here is our group photo at the end of the trip, after we packed up.

We already have another camping trip planned in April, so I’ll have some new photos for you soon.  Thanks for reading!  Be sure to leave us your comments, and feel free to share this article.