notesofnomads.com

“If Toyota catches a cold, Nagoya does. ” This local saying expresses just how much influence Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture's second largest city with around 420,000 residents, has on the prefectural capital's financial health and well-being, and indeed on the entire country's

Understanding how to read a Japanese calendar is an important part of life in Japan. While it may seem intimidating at first when you see a combination of letters and numbers, luckily the Japanese date system is extremely easy to master once you understand a few basic concepts

Dalongdong Baoan Temple or just simply ‘Baoan Temple' is one of Taipei's “big three” temples (台北三大廟門), along with the Mengjia Qingshui Temple and the previously mentioned Mengjia Longshan Temple. With the election of a second DPP President in 2016, the passing of a transitional justice law to open an inquiry into the reign of White Terror, and creating spaces for a “bottom-up” approach to the transformation of the Memorial through such events as the “Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Transition” dialogue and an exhibition at the Memorial Hall itself seeking public reflection and input on what the next iteration of the Hall should be, we can expect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall will not be so-named or revered forever. Din Tai Fung's Xinyi Road location (near Yongkang Street and only a minute's walk from Dongmen Station) is open from 10:00-21:00 Monday to Friday, from 09:00-21:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Closest MRT station: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall Station, Exit 5, or Taipei City Hall Station, Exit 1 (stairs) or Exit 2 (escalators).

There are only 120 climbing permits issued per day (77 for non-Via Ferrata summit climbers, 33 for Via Ferrata climbers and 10 for local Sabahans). The two trails merged for the final 2km of the climb on Day 1 between the Layang-Layang Shelter (4km mark, 2,702m) and Panalaban (6km mark, 3,300m, overnight rest stop). If you decide you'd like to try Via Ferrata on arrival at Laban Rata, provided that there are spots still available and you make it in time for the safety briefing, you can add a standalone Via Ferrata experience to your existing package for an added RM700 for WTT and RM950 for LPC (until 31st March 2019, prices from April are yet to be released). At Pendant Hut, check out time depends on which Via Ferrata activity you do – Walk The Torq (WTT) is 11:30am and Low's Peak Circuit (LPC) is 12:30pm.