Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I just finished reading Part II of The Three Musketeers , a masterpiece of French author Alexandre Dumas. Published in 1844, the novel consists of 67 chapters (including Epilogue) in two parts: Part I for Chapters 1-37 and Part II for the remaining 29 chapters. Having read Part I four weeks ago, I have now finished Part II as well. The first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances, The Three Musketeers is among the most widely translated French novels ever written. The version I read was an English translation by William Robson, published in 1894. Despite its lighthearted opening in Part I, The Three Musketeers does not really end happily, with its tone changed entirely at the end. The levity of the opening chapters has been replaced with a kind of uneasy calm, after Dumas's meticulous depiction in the final chapters of Milady's twisted life and brutal death. To this end, it is as if a veil of innocence has been lifted from the musketeers' world. At the heart of...

I just completed my twenty-seventh trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in Taiwan. My destination this time was Nantou County, the second largest administrative region by area in Taiwan, after Hualien County. The only non-coastal county, Nantou is home to the highest mountain (Yushan), the largest lake (Sun Moon Lake), and the longest river (Zhuoshui River) in Taiwan. During my last trip a year ago, I had visited four of the 13 townships administered by Nantou County, so this time I visited another five: Nantou, Zhongliao, Jiji, Mingjian, and Caotun, which collectively form the northwestern part of this landlocked county.  I spent my first day in Nantou City, a county-administered city in northwestern Nantou County. It lies between the Bagua Mountains and the Maoluo River and is the seat of Nantou County.  I began by taking the HSR to Taichung, and then transferred to a bus for Nantou City ...