We just left Taiwan a couple of days ago, and what a great time we had. This was one of the highlights of our trip, and we can thank a combination of great sights, great natural wonders, friendly people and most of all…good friends. Our trip consisted of a day in Taipei sightseeing, followed by joining up with Nadia’s friend and former first-year University roommate Sharon for sightseeing in Eastern Taiwan. After that, we returned to Taipei for a couple more days of sightseeing on our own.
Taipei is a huge sprawling city of roughly 23 million people. It’s not a “walker’s city”, but we made our way around very easily through its convenient metro system. It seems as if each city we visit in Asia makes us more and more jaded about how bad the TTC really is…
In our first visit to Taipei, we visited Taipei 101, Taipei’s 101 story building in the shape of a Chinese pagoda. There we were able to get some great views of the city:
We then met up with Sharon who took us to meet her friend Demi, and we went to the Shilin night market, known for its cool array of street food, clothing, etc. The place was packed and full of great buys. Right up Nadia’s alley…
Here are a few extra shots from around Taipei:
The next day, we were off on the train to Hua Lien on the Eastern shores of Taiwan to pick up a rental car, and two of Sharon’s friends (Anne and Pai-Chi) for touring in Taroko National park. This park is truly one of the most magnificent natural wonders we’ve ever seen, with peaks over 3,000 metres high, river gorges plunging over 1,000 metres deep, walkways through caves, suspension bridges, etc. There were even a couple of places where we had to wear hardhats. Thank god we did, because apparently the next day, a Chinese tourist decided to take off his hardhat and was nailed with a falling rock, and subsequently died.
We had great travel companions with us in Taroko in Sharon, Anne and Pai-Chi, and they did an amazing job planning things for us – thanks ladies! They booked us into a great hotel in Taroko up in the mountains, and we even checked out an amazing Buddhist temple in the mountains – the highest one in all of Taiwan. Here are some pictures from our adventures in Taroko:
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After a couple of days sightseeing in Taroko, we returned to Hua Lien for a homestay at a great guesthouse, and we did some touring with the girls, along with a couple more friends who are locals of Hua Lien, Jack and Queen, and our personal favourite, Jack’s daughter, Wednesday. So, Mike and now seven girls went zipping around Hua Lien to do some sightseeing. Here are some pictures
After returning to Taipei, Nadia and I were sad to see our friends leave (both old and new), but we continued on with the adventures of M&N…We checked out the National Palace museum (famous for its collection of Chinese artifacts):
The National Taiwan Science Education Centre, where seemingly, we learnt nothing at all, but had a great time doing it!
The amazing miniatures museum, that had everything in 1:12 or 1:24 scale, including Buckhingham Palace, Roman ruins, etc.:
The Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall, which could be considered to be Taiwan’s answer to the Forbidden City in Beijing.
And we just happened to be there in time for both the changing of the guards and a Taiwanese cultural performance:
And we hit the streets of the Ximen shopping district for…well, you guessed it:
Taiwan will definitely go down as one of the great highlights of our trip. The Taiwanese are some of the friendliest people we’ve encountered yet. We saw some amazing things in Taiwan and definitely felt as if we could have stayed longer. But the show must go on, and we’ve now moved on to Japan…a little farther north, a little colder, and a little closer to home…
Nadia and I have been traveling for three-and-a-half months now, our luggage has swollen and is looking rather bruised and battered, and I’m sure we’re starting to look about the same way ourselves. We’re looking forward to coming home, but not before we have one last hurrah in Japan!
Talk to you folks soon…
Mike and Nadia
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