When I first came to Taiwan I took almost any opportunity I could get to visit the East Coast - I fell in love with the natural beauty of the valleys with massive mountains to one side and the beautiful Pacific Ocean to the other. Since then, I've been up and down the coast several times through Yilan (宜蘭), Hualien (花蓮) and Taidong (台東) as well as visiting both Orchid (蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島).

One of the reasons I love the East Coast is for the sheer amount of open space there is - the land is somewhat sandwiched between the ocean and the central mountain range, but the valley below where there are small towns is full of natural beauty and has yet to be developed in the same way that the west coast of the country (where all the major cities are) has. This means that if you want to get somewhere along the east coast, you're probably going to have to drive for quite a while to get to it, but there are always going to be a number of distractions in between as there is so much to see and do there.

With all this love I have for the area though, if you look at my Blog Map, you'll find that I'm sorely missing posts from that part of the country. I have plans to solve this problem in the near future but there are a number of reasons for this - I did most of my exploring of the east coast years ago and while I do have a considerable amount of photos from those trips, they are sitting on an external hard drive that needs some data recovery before I can get to them. The next reason is that I have a dog now so I have to be responsible and can't leave home for a few days whenever I feel like it. I can get away for day-trips but that really limits the distance I can travel.

I've tried doing day trips to the East Coast in the past and they've turned out to be extremely exhausting and not something that I want to do all the time. An example of this is when I posted about the Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖). Getting to the cliffs involved a four hour train ride to Hualien and then a one hour scooter ride to the cliffs and then the same on the way back. The result was a fourteen hour day of travelling.

Today's post is from a day-trip to Yilan that is not unlike the trip to Qingshui Cliffs, but even though it was really tiring and somewhat of a whirlwind experience, it was still fun and as always, the East Coast never ceases to amaze.

One of the places where I go to relax, meet friends and write blogs is a local craft beer bar called Hop In. I've been going to the bar since it first opened and have become good friends with the owners and the other regulars. A few weeks ago one of the guys asked if I dared to go paragliding. I thought, paragliding? There's nothing scary about that. So the next question was: So when do you want to go?

Plans were made quite quickly and we were off to Yilan the next week to go paragliding in Wai'Ao (外澳) which is popular for its beach and its harbour. Wai'Ao also has a perfect view of the famous Turtle Island (龜山島), a few kilometres offshore and was off-limits to civilians for several decades.

After passing the beautiful beach (that was surprisingly still busy on a weekday in late October) we drove up a steep mountain and arrived at the point where we would be taking off.

The paragliding experience in Taiwan isn't similar to what you'd have in North America - There were no hour long safety videos or excessive lectures about what to do and what not to do. I just had to sign my name, give my ID number and provide an emergency contact number. No fuss.

The weather on the day we went was absolutely beautiful but we had to wait a while because they were busy and because the wind wasn't that strong. I used the time waiting to enjoy the scenery and tried to get some nice shots of Wai'Ao with the island in the foreground as well as getting shots of my friends going before me.

When it was my turn, I asked the coach if it was okay if I took my camera with me which ended up being no problem (which surprised me). We suited up, he tightened all the straps and made sure everything was safe as well as giving me a few simple instructions about what to do and what not to do.

While gliding through the air we passed over the busy East Coast highway as well as the railroad and then quickly passed the beach and went out above the water a little bit. When we got to a certain height we shifted back towards land and the instructor told me that when we got close to the beach that I should put my feet down and get ready to standup and run so that we would have a good landing.

Overall it was a pretty fun experience although it wasn't a very long glide down to the beach. I have a friend who is a professional paraglide who works both in Hong Kong and in India and from what I've seen, paragliding with him would be a pretty awesome experience. One thing I can't compare though is the scenery. The scenery that you get to enjoy in Wai'Ao is pretty amazing and that made the trip worthwhile!

If you're interested in paragliding while you are visiting the East Coast I'll leave the contact information below. Its best that you make a reservation at least three days in advance. Don't just show up hoping that they can squeeze you in as they're pretty busy!

Contact Information:

Wai'Ao Paragliding (外澳飛行傘基地）
Address: #95 Shikong Road, Toucheng Village, Yilan County. (宜蘭縣頭城鎮石空路95號)

Reservation Number: 0935181191

Facebook Page: 宜蘭縣飛行運動推展協會

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

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Craft Beer: Dark Ale, Citra Pale Ale, India Pale Ale — Craft Beer: Dark Ale, Citra Pale Ale, India Pale Ale

I often don't explain to people how much I love what do because I try my best to let my work do the work for me rather than talking about myself. I'm really lucky that I have been able to combine my photography skills with my knowledge about Taiwan and have been able to promote the country to the world. I have experienced so many great things through what I do as a photographer and I'm quite pleased with the path that I have taken.

I often get to combine my photography with my love of hiking and my interest in the cultural anthropology of Taiwan, but today I'm going to talk about how I've been able to combine my work with my love of craft beer! Craft beer has exploded onto the scene in Taiwan and there are some pretty amazing places opening up around the country that import quality beer from America and other countries. Taiwan is also taking part in this worldwide shift just like places in the west and there have been some pretty great startups with people starting their own breweries.

Taiwanese craft beer makes use of the amazing amount of fresh fruit and flavours available in the country to produce some pretty awesome world-class beers that are putting the country on the map as a rising star in the world of craft beer! Of the start ups we have seen so far it is not uncommon to find beers which have been brewed with any variety of fruit and high mountain tea making these beers distinctly Taiwanese.

These breweries have made names for themselves not only in Taiwan, but around the world as well receiving quite favourable ratings on popular sites like Beer Advocate. The market for craft beer in Taiwan is an ever-expanding one with people starting to prefer fresh ales with locally sourced ingredients as opposed to the big beer producers. The market isn't quite mature yet, but with the hard work of these breweries, Taiwan is putting itself on the map as a destination for quality beer.

In my opinion, one of the most admirable attributes you will find in Taiwanese people is their ability to undertake any sort of enterprise, find ways to make production more efficient and improve upon things while always making sure to add a bit of "Taiwan" to their product and therefore improving it. No matter what kind of business people find themselves in, it seems like they are more than able to make things a little more awesome.

The beautiful Jim & Dad's brewery in Yuanshan (員山), Yilan (宜蘭) is nestled in a beautiful valley where the Central Mountain Range (中央山脈) meets up with the Snow Mountain Range (雪山山脈) and has a famous neighbour in the Kavalan distillery (葛瑪蘭酒廠) which has received worldwide recognition for its production of whisky. Both the brewery and the distillery are set in a perfect place as in Taiwan, any product that is produced near the mountains with fresh water has a good reputation (好山好水!)

Jim & Dad's is a new start up, but they have spared no expense building their beer factory and studying the art of brewing is clearly very important to them. The brewery is currently open daily and while there are plans for offering pub-style food in the future, the main reason to visit the brewery is for a taste of their various brews.

I was introduced to Jim & Dad's a few months ago at a newly opened craft beer bar named "Hop In" near my home. The owners had some of Jim & Dad's "Citra Pale Ale" on tap and I fell in love with it as I personally prefer much "hoppier" styles of beers. The beer was more than hoppy enough for me (IBU: 67), but it was also quite creamy and had a hint of citrus flavours which comes from the citra hops that they used to brew it. It was a well crafted beer and sparked my interest in the company. A few weeks later, the boss of "Hop In" had a Jim & Dad's IPA (India Pale Ale) on tap and it was also extremely tasty. I suspect some people might find it a little bitter with an alcohol content of 7.0%, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

A few weeks ago we planned a trip to the brewery in Yilan to have some fresh brews and meet up with the manager. The brewery has a pretty great deal to taste all the beers where you get three different kinds of beer for $120NT (US $4.00) with glasses that are a bit smaller than a typical pint, but by the end of the afternoon I probably drank about sixteen of them before picking out a few of my favourites for a take home box.

One of the best parts of the trip was the discovery that they had an Amber Ale on tap which I tried right away. Amber Ale's aren't really common or popular in Taiwan as they are in the west so I was pleasantly surprised to discover how good it was. To me, the fact that they put so much effort into making a high quality style of beer that isn't as common in Taiwan shows that the owners are dedicated to spreading craft beer culture in Taiwan and introducing people to different blends that they aren't as familiar with!

Having locally made craft beers available in Taiwan is really great and offers the average consumer a much better choice that what you usually find at convenience stores and hypermarts throughout the country. I hope that as time goes by the company will be able to distribute bottles to a wider area and help spread craft beer culture to the whole of Taiwan. Currently, if you want to buy Jim & Dad's bottles outside of the brewery you'll have to go to a place that specifically sells craft beer.

Jim & Dad's has been brewing since September 2015 and has five standard beers available - They have a White Ale (小麥), Dark Ale (黑啤酒/珀特), Amber Ale (琥珀), Pale Ale (淡色艾爾) and an India Pale Ale (印度淡色艾爾) with a few seasonal test batches that come out at different times of the year. On my visit, the seasonal batch was a Pale Ale infused with Taiwanese kumquat's (金棗淡色艾爾) which takes some of the bitterness away from a typical Pale Ale and added some fruit flavour to it. Before the kumquat batch the one that preceded it was a very popular Pale Ale brewed with Yilan's famous pomelos (麻豆文旦) which are in season in early fall and are quite common in Taiwan during Moon Festival.

After taste-testing more of the beer than we should have, the manager took us on a tour of the brewing floor and it was really cool to get to see where all the beer is made. The brewery was extremely clean and shiny and for a neat-freak like myself it really appealing. While we were viewing the brew floor the manager was busy checking all the different brews that they had going to make sure that everything was okay. The brew master seemed like he probably had the best job in the world as he just sat around and checked to make sure everything was okay while taste testing the beers!

Jim, the owner of the brewery studied in the US for over eight years and during his time there fell in love with the increasingly popular craft beer scene. When he came back to Taiwan he still had that thirst for craft beer but there wasn't a lot to offer at the time. He decided to take things into his own hands and after winning a local home-brewing competition he convinced his father to invest in his idea and chose Yilan as the site of their future endeavour as the idea was to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city and Taiwan's industrial parks. The idea was to be closer to nature, and of course to an area where fresh local ingredients are in abundance which goes well with the brewery's motto: "Drink better, drink local."

Websites: Jim & Dad's Brewing Company | Facebook Page

Address: #411 Yuanshan Road Section 2. Yuanshan Village, Yilan County.

宜蘭縣員山鄉員山路二段411號

If you have an interest in keeping track of the craft beer scene in Taiwan, check out this group on Facebook where there are both Chinese and English posts:

台灣精釀啤酒俱樂部 Taiwan Craft Beer Club