Taiwan
Taiwan loves two things - Tea and T’s. Tea is popular all over the island and ‘T’ is a letter popular in the names of the cities. Taiwan, Taipei, Toroko National Park, Taitung, Taichung, and Taoyuan... being born in Toledo, I couldn’t complain.
The basics for transportation and communication in Taiwan:
- For communication we ended up purchasing a sim card. They offered a 10-day package of unlimited data for $450 Taiwan dollars - $15 USD, as the conversion rate is close to 30 $NT to $1 USD.
- The easiest way to get from the Taoyuan Taipei International Airport into Taipei is the Taoyuan Airport Express MRT train (the purple line). The train costs $5 one way and can get you to the main station in Taipei in 45 minutes.
- Inside the city, there is an extensive metro system. We ended up just paying as we went as most rides were between $0.50 to $1.50 USD. We could purchase a tourist Taipei metro pass for 1-5 days from $6 to $23, but we knew we would not be riding that much. The MRT was very nice and easy to use.
- Also, in Taiwan they use Uber and Uber Eats. We made sure to take advantage of both.
Taipei
We continued exploring Taiwan with Aaron and Vince. The four of us stayed at the quaint Lan Ting Business Hotel, which was centrally located near the main station and some of the famous Taiwan night markets. And we enjoyed those night markets almost every night. The closest night market to our hotel was the Ningxia market, to the north was the largest market Shilin, and to the southwest was the Huaxi and Guangzhou night markets.
Our good friend and former exchange student Jackson is from Taiwan. At the time of our visit he was graduating from a dental school in Poland, so we were not able to cross paths. But we had the opportunity to meet his cousin Dodo who took us around and showed us many of the amazing sights of northern Taiwan.
First, we learned about Taiwan’s rich history at the National Palace Museum ($13) and later at the National Taiwan Museum ($2).
The National Palace was the large palace of Taiwan with a state of the art museum underneath it. The museum had a lot of artifacts throughout the history of Taiwan showing the progress and change through the many dynasties and lifestyles dating back thousands of years.
The National Taiwan Museum focused on the more natural side of Taiwan, including sections on bugs, plants, animals, rocks, and more. It was under construction and only about half the exhibits were open, but we still enjoyed the museum.
While in the city, we saw the iconic Grand Hotel, a mix of modern and traditional Taiwanese architecture, and Taipei 101, once the tallest building in the world at 1,667 ft! We decided to get our own views of the city from two different vantage points: The Miramar Ferris Wheel (included with the Palace Museum admission) and the Elephant Mountain (free).
The Ferris wheel was an easy vantage point that did not take much physical effort while the Elephant Mountain was much more effortful. It got quite muggy for a morning walk, but once we reached the view point we realized it was well worth the hike! The hike was right on the edge of town but it felt like stepping into a forest, reminding me a lot of my previous hike up to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong (Section 6). At the top we enjoyed the skyline while catching up with a variety of people from Taiwan, South Korea, and even Chicago!
While in Taipei, we enjoyed the National Dragon Boat Festival. It was an exciting racing event reminding me and Aaron of our time rowing in high school. It was very similar to a regatta but with more color, a drummer on each vessel, and of course, the dragon-shaped boats.
Eating in Taiwan was fascinating, and we tried everything from street food in the night markets, a banquet at Bruce’s Kitchen, local Taiwanese food with no menu, all the way to the eating out of a toilet...
Yes, you read that right. Julia heard of this fascinating place called the Modern Toilet Restaurant where you sit on a toilet, eat out of a toilet, and drink out of a urinal. It was an experience and the food was not bad either.
While in northern Taiwan, Dodo took us to three towns outside of Taipei:
- Pingxi
- Houtong
- Jiufen
Our first stop was to Pingxi also known as a lantern town in Taiwan. As we approached the town center, we saw a lot of people setting off lanterns in the sky. Getting in on the fun, we purchased our own lantern ($3), wrote our wishes and prayers on it, and set if off into the sky.
Next, we went to Houtong town and were met with lots of friendly faces. Welcome to the Cat Village of Taiwan! Home to a large population of real felines and artificial cats scattered throughout the town. It was great seeing all the different cats and even getting in our first cat café to enjoy a cat like dessert with a few tiger wannabes.
Then we left for Jifuen Old Street. We drove up a windy road on the north coast of Taiwan to what looked like an alleyway filled with people. This alleyway ended up being an old market place filled with thousands of merchants. We even visited one of our favorite stands that serenaded us with homemade orcarina flutes. As we exited, we looked over the bay and enjoyed a peaceful sunset.
At the end of our time in Taipei, we parted ways with Aaron and Vince who headed back to the States and thanked Dodo and Jackson’s family for sharing their home with us, “Xiexie.”
Southern Taiwan
Taiwan is 394 kilometers long and 144 kilometers wide, which makes it a drivable island – about as long as Ohio but half the width. Once you leave the bustling cities of the north and drive down the east coast, you can awe at the natural beauty of Taiwan.
We winded down a “highway” with the coast on our left and the mountains on our right. The first park we passed was the National Park of Toroko (free). Everywhere you looked seemed right out of a National Geographic magazine. On our way south, we stopped by a few very interesting locations.
Further south was Sanxianti Arch Bridge and Park ($2 for parking). There are three giant rock formations sticking out in the ocean off the coast that were once connected to the mainland. Now the only way to get to them is the 8-arched dragon bridge. It’s a fascinating blend of land and water as you climb up and down on your way to the edge of Taiwan.
You can trek along the coast around the island or cut through the heart of it. Right in the middle is a tunnel that cuts through the middle rock. As you enter, it’s perfectly dark and quiet, and we had to use a flashlight to see. But once you get to the middle, just stop and turn the light off as you listen to the sounds of the ocean and feel the soothing breeze. Upon climbing out is a lighthouse sitting on top of the rock looking out as beacon to sea helping guide boats inland.
Further south near Taitung is another interesting sight with a clash of land and sea. At this location, the sea won the battle over the sandy beach, converting the sand into unique sandstone formations at the sight known as Xiaoyeliu ($2 for parking). Watching the rocks you can see the layers compressed and cut from the waves creating a one of a kind design.
We stayed at the Vacation Hotel Taitung. The staff were excited to see us as they do not get many foreigners to the southern tip of Taiwan.
We also visited Kenting National Park. Another perfect coastal drive south dead-ended at a lighthouse where we enjoyed a walk through the jungle that opened up to the beach and a statue dedication the Cape of Eluanbi, the southern tip of Taiwan
It was time to head north again, this time on the western coast. We stopped at the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum (free) located in Kaohsiung. Through the gates of the temple we could see a large garden leading towards the Fo Guang Big Buddha.
On the way to Buddha, we visited the eight pagodas, each eight stories tall, where we learned a lot about Buddhism and had a chance to print holy words on red parchment paper.
Taoyuan
Our final stop in Taiwan was Taoyuan. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Taoyuan, where we started feeling a little bit like locals for both good and bad reasons.
The bad being I chipped my tooth earlier on the trip and had to fix it. We went to the local hospital to see a dentist. The check in process was slightly different than in the US. First, you take a ticket, then you tell them your condition, and who you want to see. Then they print out a form that you fill out and they send you to the section of the building to wait for your specialist, it seemed daunting.
But as soon as I walked in to the dental office, I handed in the paperwork and my international medical insurance. This was my chance to test it. I showed them my teeth, they filled them in less than 10 minutes, gave me a receipt and told me to head down to billing. I gave them the documents, paid my bill, received the receipts, and that was that. Total time in the hospital was 45 minutes. Now I will try to submit my claim and see how well my international insurance is!
The good being: We spent the days walking the streets, trying local food, Taiwanese bubble milk tea, going to the movies, and buying local fruits and vegetables off the street markets.
My experience with the Taiwan bus system was great as well. One instance I remember the best was my first bus trip. I waited at a bus stop at the Taoyuan Airport looking to head back to the hotel. Google Maps told me to wait for the bus number 5076 that was supposed to be arriving in 2 minutes at my stop. I looked around and did not see any “city buses”, but I did see what looked like one of those big tourist buses. I was not sure if that was it as the bus did not look like it was going to stop...
Not seeing any other buses, I kind of flagged it down with my hand and sure enough the bus started to slow down. It stopped for a brief second and opened the door. I must have hesitated as it started to slowly speed back up with the door open. So, I jumped on the bus!
I saw a coin slot and put in $20 NT ($0.66 cents) that Google Maps told me to pay. The driver just kept driving paying no attention to me. So, I climbed up the giant stare case and moved down a few rows to take a seat.
There were probably 10 or so other people on the bus, and as I looked around, the bus was decorated out to the T. It had ornate window curtains and lights all over. I noticed we passed a lot of the bus stops and quickly learned it doesn’t stop unless someone waves it down or wants to stop.
I was looking around for a button to request a stop. All of a sudden, I hear some music start up and I recognize the song. An acoustic version of “It’s a small world” started playing over the speakers. Sure, enough the bus pulled over at the next stop and a lady got off the bus. So, I started watching other people requesting stops. They all pushed a button on the ceiling that looked like the air condition fan, I had figured it out as the song started up again.
After riding a little longer, it was my time to shine. I pushed the button near my hotel and moved to the front. As if by magic, the bus slowed down and I quickly got off with the bus disappearing into the city streets.
The bus ride was surreal, but very enjoyable I was ready to ride again and so we did a few more times over the following days. We did our best to blend in to the city of Taoyuan at the end of our Taiwan Journey. Xie Xie land of the Tea and T’s.
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