Harmon Moon

Author: Harmon

  • Travelogue #11: See you again, Taiwan

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    Harmon
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    Green Island was a very neat place to go, even if the weather wasn’t the most cooperative. I’ve generally had pretty decent luck with rain on this trip, but my first day on the island was covered in the stuff. I wasn’t able to do much except soak in the outdoor saltwater hot springs, which…

  • Travelogue #10: Southern Taiwan

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    Well, okay, mostly Tainan, but a little bit of Kaohsiung too. Plus I’m writing this while on my way to Green Island, a tropical island off the southeast coast which the weather report tells me will be experiencing rain showers all week (charming). So let’s just call it all “Southern Taiwan.” I was going to…

  • Travelogue #9: Tainan (and some thoughts on language)

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    Tainan doesn’t feel like the oldest city in Taiwan. I mean, it is the oldest city in Taiwan – the evidence is everywhere. Each of the city’s owners has left their mark in some way, from crumbling Dutch walls to Imperial Chinese temples to Japanese colonial amenities, and it’s delightfully easy to disappear down jumbled…

  • Travelogue #8: Taipei

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    It’s funny how much I took Taiwan for granted. Growing up, it was always a foreign place – one I had a connection to, sure, but still so fundamentally different it felt alien. After spending so much time in Malaysia, though, Taiwan suddenly feels comforting, like a home away from home. Part of it is…

  • Travelogue #7: Last Days in Malaysia

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    Tomorrow I leave Malaysia for Taiwan, having spent just one day short of six weeks in the country (including a week in Singapore…I really have to stop referring to them as the same country). I’ve enjoyed my time in Malaysia. People have raved to me about other parts of southeast Asia such as northern Thailand…

  • Travelogue #6: Life in a Backpack (Penang)

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    The day after Boxing Day marked a full month since I started travelling, November 27th to December 27th. It’s starting to sink in that this is my life now – living rough and always on my way to somewhere else, but also constantly exploring and seeing something brand new every day. I don’t regret a…

  • Travelogue #5: Penang

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    Harmon
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    My output of stunning photos of Malaysian landmarks on Instagram has dropped this past week, for a few reasons. The first is that Penang’s landmarks are a little tough to get good camera angles on. The city is old and densely packed enough that a lot of the sites are crammed into narrow streets, where…

  • Travelogue #4: Malacca and Penang

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    My last couple days in Singapore weren’t particularly noteworthy, apart from catching up with an old friend. I’m getting to an age now where I’m meeting up with friends from university and we collectively realize that it’s been over five years since we last saw each other, which is a trip (…said the 28-year-old). One…

  • Travelogue #3: Singapore

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    Harmon
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    I hadn’t originally intended to go to Singapore. Not for any particular reason – it was on my radar as a “nice to have” experience, but I’d intended to spend three weeks in Kuala Lumpur then head north to spend three weeks in Penang. After that, I had a plane ticket booked to Taipei as…

  • Travelogue #2: Some Scattered Notes about Malaysia

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    Probably my favourite meal here in Malaysia has been Roti Bakar. I’ve been working my way through the Malaysian staples like Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), Hokkien Mee (charcoal fried noodles), and banana leaf curry (see below), but Roti Bakar is the only meal I keep coming back to. Which is strange, because it’s nothing more…