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Taiwan 2018

November - December 2018
A 20-day adventure by Darren and Janet Read more
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  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 1

    Night flight to Honkers

    November 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    Adelaide Airport, Saturday night, ready for the much anticipated family holiday ... and did a virtual cache on the way in. It doesn't get much better than that. ☺

    Everyone has their own app... Chris has Travefy, KT and DC on Facebook, me on Find Penguins, Oliver has Notebook 1.0. Here she is sharing her app...

    Good flight, arrived 45 minutes early and an hour before the first train to the city, so plenty of time to... sit and wait.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 2

    Long day on Lantau

    November 25, 2018 in Hong Kong ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We arrived at 4.10am and caught the first train to the city at 5.50am. After a quick train change at Central we arrived at our hotel at 7am. Unsurprisingly our rooms won't be ready for a number of hours, so we decided to tackle our longest planned day - a trip to Lantau Island (back where the airport is!).

    To get back to Lantau we caught a bus to the ferry terminal, then ferry to Mui Wo on the east coast of the island. After a walk around town, a failed attempt for a cache, and a bakery visit, we had a winding, mountainous bus trip across the island to Tai O, a traditional Chinese stilted fishing village on the west coast... and all before 10.30am!

    Tai O, on the Pearl River delta, is also home to the rare pink dolphin, so we went for a boat trip through the village and toward the new Hong Kong-Macau bridge in search of some. We spotted one, which considering there are less than 50 left in the wild, is pretty good.

    It started to drizzle as we walked through the market, sampling some cuttlefish balls on the way, so we caught the next bus to Ngong Ping, home of the Big Buddha. It was raining properly by now, so we decided against climbing the 250 steps to the top and headed for Ngong Ping 360, a 5.7km cable car ride with views across the South China Sea, national park and airport. We knew it was all out there sonewehere, but the cloud was so low we had times we couldn't even see the carriage ahead of us!

    We caught the train back to the hotel, KT had a snooze and Oliver, DC and I went out in search of food. We settled on the accurately named Queen Street Cooked Food Market for some delicious noodle and rice dishes, then a quick trip to the supermarket for supplies.

    KT and Chris frequented the same food hall and got the full theatre of washing your own crockery before you eat, and complimentary tea service, then we all went to the coffee shop downstairs to discuss the next day's agenda over hot chocolates ☺    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 3

    Star Ferry and Ladies Market

    November 26, 2018 in Hong Kong ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    We had a more leisurely start today, leaving the hotel just after 9am for a walk to the ferry terminal to catch the historic Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon.

    With a few detours for caches, we walked through Kowloon Park to the Hong Kong Scout Association, who have a large museum as part of a Scout branded hotel, which is also the tallest Scout building in the world!

    After lunch at a small noodle and dumpling restaurant we walked via the Temple Street night market (not much happening during the day), to the Ladies Market. This was very busy and continued for many blocks, so by the time we reached the other end we were ready for a train trip back to the ferry terminal.

    We spotted the Space Museum on the walk fron the train station, so DC paid a vist while we had coffee and cake at nearby Starbucks.

    We caught the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island and ventured up to a rooftop garden in search of another cache. Apart from a great view, there was also a burger bar on the rooftop with outdoor seating, so we stopped there for tea and enjoyed the harbour lights.

    The journey back to the hotel was partly via the Central–Mid-Levels Escalator, the world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system (800m in length with a 135m rise in elevation).    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 4

    Ding Ding to The Peak

    November 27, 2018 in Hong Kong ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    We caught the Ding Ding this morning, the double deck narrow gauge tram that runs past the front of our hotel, then walked to the lower station of the Peak Tram, the funicular up to Victoria Peak.

    Victoria Peak is where the classic photos of Hong Kong are taken, and the crowds were indicative of its popularity. Most people take some photos at the peak, do some shopping, then go back down, but we did the 90 minute walk around the Peak Track, a 3km circumnavigation of the peak. We got some great views of the docks and outlying areas on a very quiet (and pleasantly flat) track.

    Atfer a spot of lunch, and a rainbow cheese toastie for KT, we caught the funicular back down and walked to the underground station via Hong Kong Park, and visited the world's most expensive tree - a bit like the Burnside gum, this banyan tree was preserved when the area was redeveloped, at an estimated cost of A$4 million.

    During our walks we have been surprised by the lack of cars on the road (but the trains and trams are packed!), and the cars are either taxis or luxury vehicles. DC decided to count the Tesla's today and got to 24! (turns out HK had very attractive rebates for electric vehicles and sold 2900 in one month before the rebates were removed. By comparison, Australia sold 1400 for the whole year)

    The rain started again mid afternoon, so we ate locally at the Queen Street Cooked Food Market again for tea - highlight this time was the crispy pork in scrambled egg!    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 5

    STANLEY!!

    November 28, 2018 in Hong Kong ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We took a trip down south today to the Victor Harbor of Hong Kong, Stanley!

    We caught the local bus via the Aberdeen Tunnel and Repulse Bay (home to a Ferrari and Tesla dealership!), and arrived just in time for morning tea - egglette (egg waffle) has become KT's favourite.

    We wandered the market, went for a beach walk (yes, there was a cache involved!) and had lunch in a backstreet noodle establishment (generous serve of mains were $5 each, compared to the waterfront where a gourmet cheese toastie was $20 at the "English pub").

    We caught the bus back to Causeway Bay (and found where all the traffic is in Hong Kong), visited Lot No 1 (the first parcel of land auctioned off by the British after the claimed the colony), and the Noonday Gun (as mentioned in Noel Coward's Mad Dogs and Englishmen).

    Street food for dinner tonight, literally! We bought pork buns, rice and other items of unknown ingredient from a small shop front and ate them on the street ☺

    Today's Tesla count: 75+ (he stopped counting!)    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 6

    Macau - tower, casino's and tarts

    November 29, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    We departed the hotel just after 9am for a walk to the ferry terminal, bound for Macau. After taking a while to find the ticket counter, we bought tickets for the 10.45am departure, but were also told to line up in the standby queue for the 10.15am ferry... and got on that quite easily!

    On arrival in Macau we caught the hotel free shuttle bus, checked in to one room and caught the local bus to the Macau Tower. After a quick lunch, including our first Portuguese egg tart, KT and Chris braved the Skywalk, a vertigo inducing walk around an outside platform 322m up, secured by only a cable! The rest of us stayed inside and enjoyed the views across Macau and mainland China.

    After a cuppa and another egg tart, we caught one of the casino shuttle buses to the Cotai Strip, a Las Vegas style extravaganza of massive buildings, neon lights and copies of famous world attractions. We had a ride in "the world's highest figure of eight ferris wheel", suspended between 2 towers of the Studio City casino (we suspect it's the only one in the world!).

    Unfortunately we then made the mistake of entering The Venetian, a labyrinth of shops, complete with canals and gondolas, and spent the best part of an hour trying to find our way out! We found out later it's the largest casino in the world... no wonder it seemed to go on forever!

    By the time we emerged it was dark, so we caught a free shuttle to another casino near our hotel - the casino's are only too pleased to take you if they think you'll spend some money at their establishment, so they are a popular form of transport between the islands.

    Tea was a Mecanese and Portuguese buffet at the hotel (and more egg tarts), followed by a trip to the supermarket and a quick swim for KT, DC and Chris before bed.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 7

    The Ruins of St Paul

    November 30, 2018 in Macao ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Sightseeing day, starting with a bus trip to the southern island to visit Scout Headquarters, which is housed in an old fort.

    Our return bus trip took us to the number one tourist attractions in Macau, Senado Square and The Ruins of St Pauls, along with hordes of other tourists.

    Senado Square is a central meeting place where they hold community events and is surrounded by laneways lined with shops and market stalls. The tourist masses form a slow moving human train from Senado Square up to the Ruins of St Pauls, the facade of a 17th century church that was destroyed by fire in 1835.

    We walked back to the hotel for our late checkout and to catch the hotel shuttle to the ferry terminal. The ferry check in was integrated with the airport system, so we were able to book our bags through to Taipei.

    We took off about 20 minutes late for our 1 hour 40 minute flight to Taipei, negotiated their e-gate process on arrival, then caught the MRT train to the city of Chungli for our accommodation for the night, in preparation for the start of our tour tomorrow.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
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    Day 8

    Stinky tofu, and other culinary delights

    December 1, 2018 in Taiwan ⋅ 🌫 20 °C

    After a fabulous breakfast of scrambled eggs, steamed buns, porridge, rice, vegetables and toast, we met our driver Steven to begin our tour of Taiwan.

    Being Saturday morning, the roads are full of locals heading away for day trips out of Taipei, so progress was very slow at times, despite being on a 4 lane freeway with additional raised lanes on both sides.

    We arrived at Longfeng Broken Bridge in time for morning tea, and Oliver jumped right in the deep end with a Taiwanese specialty - black stinky tofu (the name is extremely accurate). She and Steven had most of it, but everyone had a taste.

    We continued through the mountains on to Shengxing Railway Station, a town which was bypassed by the railway many years ago, and uses that, and its Hakka heritage, as a tourist attraction (think Hahndorf with noodles instead of wurst ☺). We also made some traditional pound tea by grinding herbs, peanuts and seeds in a mortar and pestle before adding hot water to make tea.

    We then drove to Taichung via the Rainbow Village, a former veterans village which was painted from head to toe in bright murals by one of the residents in a bid to save it from demolition. He is in his 90s now, and although no lives there anymore (it is purely for tourists), he was in the village today and happy to pose for photos for a small fee.

    Next stop was the Fengjia night market, famous for its imaginative food and drinks. It was here that bubble tea was invented, so we sampled sweet potato balls, fried quail egg balls, a hot dog in a hot dog (a pork sausage inside a rice sausage "roll"), deep fried suckling pig omelet, and a watermelon milk drink. We walked for over 2 hours and covered about half the market, so you'll get an idea of it's size!

    A short drive across town had us at our hotel around 8pm.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 9

    From Lugang to the Sun (Moon Lake)

    December 2, 2018 in Taiwan ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    First stop of the day was Lugang Township, formerly the busiest port town in Taiwan, where we visited a temple and had a walk around the old town. On the way we sampled the local specialty, shrimp monkeys (deep fried mud shrimp, eaten whole including head and legs).

    On the way out of town we drove through a rural area, past a traditional cemetery and stopped at a Shell Temple in Fuxing Township. It's a little-visited labour of love that took one man 20 years to build, covering his own temple inside and out, with sea shells (all but 2 of the temples in Taiwan are privately owned, by individuals or not -for profits organizations)

    The drive to Sun Moon Lake was mostly on raised freeways and through tunnels, so we made good time, arriving in time for a shuttle boat cruise - a fleet of boats visit 3 ports around the lake and you hop-on and off at your leisure.

    Sun Moon Lake is the most popular tourist destination in Taiwan - we counted 30 tour buses in one of the car parks, mostly from mainland China (although the Taiwanese government is actively promoting tourism from other east Asian countrtries to minimise their reliance on China if the political situation deteriorates).

    Tea was in the night market again, but as it's not a major city, it was starting to shut down as we walked back to the hotel at 7.30pm.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetTaiwan 2018
    Day 10

    High tea in Alishan

    December 3, 2018 in Taiwan ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    After breakfast we had a quick bike ride along the walking trail before departing Yuchi township. Our first stop was Wenwu Temple on the shores of Sun Moon Lake. It is dedicated to Confucus and two Chinese generals, and is the largest temple we've visited so far.

    On the way to Alishan we visited the Collapsed Temple, a victim of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 1999 known by the locals as "9-21". We sampled Century Eggs in the local market - a preserved egg with a jelly like consistency... and it was better than expected! Lunch was in Chungpu - local specialty, turkey rice.

    Our destination for the day is Alishan, home of the forest railway, and Taiwan's hiking and tea growing centre. We had a stop on the way at Fenqihu Station to walk the old street and view the original steam engines, circa 1910.

    We arrived at Alishan in time for a walk to Alishan House, a Japanese era hotel, and the best place in town to watch the sunset from their rooftop deck. Tea was in a small restaurant in the market and an early night ready for an early start tomorrow.    Read more

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