Taiwan

octobre 2024
  • Mary Kieran Gap Year
Une aventure de 7 jours par Mary Kieran Gap Year En savoir plus
  • Mary Kieran Gap Year

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  • Taïwan Taïwan
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  • 312kilomètres parcourus
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  • 7empreintes
  • 7jours
  • 113photos
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  • Day 274: Chiayi City

    10 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    3am wake up call for a 5:25am flight to Taipei. Haneda airport was streamlined, fast, and had real food places open 24/7; ate udon, gyoza, and ramen one last time. Somehow we got really good seats on budget airline Taiwan Tiger Air and had whole rows to ourselves (stretched to the fullest).

    We landed in Taipei and immediately made our way south to Chiayi City. Chiayi region is known for three major national scenic areas: Alishan National Scenic Area (mountains), Southwest Coast National Scenic Area (ocean), and Siraya National Scenic Area (plains). The city is well-situated to access Alishan so we set base there.

    Similar to Japan, Taiwan has bullet trains across the country and we were in Chiayi two hours after landing which included the airport train to the bullet station, bullet train, and then a local bus to city center. Hilariously Google Maps directed us to get on the 7324H bus to reach Chiayi. It roles up as a tiny van with handicapped sticker. We walk up confused, but the driver is like, “Come, get on the bus.” It was 100% a handicapped bus and had ample room for wheel chairs. We rode with a little old lady and her cane 🫣👵🏼🚌

    Couldn’t check in until 3 so we walked around and set up a laptop station at a milk tea bar. They had incredible layer cakes; we counted around 23 layers. Took a nap after check in and then visited the Wenhau night market. The vibe was amazing: Taiwanese pop music and EDM playing, vendor stands selling amazing food, and motor bikes weaving in and out between people to deliver food.

    After walking around and noticing decorations, we learned we accidentally landed on Taiwanese Holiday Double Digit 10 Day which celebrates the establishment of the Republic of China, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911; this is the same government that fled to Taiwan as Mao Zedong’s Communists took over in 1949.

    On this note, would like to pivot to the China VS Taiwan political climate and get it out of the way for the rest of the trip. It’s something you do not discuss with the Taiwanese, however, preparation and negative feelings towards China are extremely evident on Day 1 of our trip.

    1) Because of the holiday, China’s People’s Liberation Army sent 15 planes across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan promptly scrambled jets, dispatched ships and activated missile systems.

    2) Regardless of Chiayi’s location in the middle of the country and far from the coast, we see bombing evacuation shelters every few blocks.

    3) Despite colonization from Japan in 1920, there is ALOT of love for Japan and Korea. Look up the top 10 things to do in the city and #1 is visit a traditional Japanese Hinoki Village and #2 is visit a Japanese prison where they held people. Japanese restaurants, anime, and decorations are everywhere and we passed several K-Beauty stores. Mary (with 0 evidence) assumed that Korean and Japenese pop culture is extremely prevalent to distance Taiwan from mainland China as possible…and after Googling, she was right: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-curiously…

    To conclude, most Taiwanese distinguish themselves ethnically and culturally from mainland China; there are still pro-unification individuals in the government and society. Holidays like Double Digit 10 Day celebrate Taiwanese independence and diversity while protesting the CCP.

    Hotel: Garden Hotel

    Food:
    Xiaolongbao
    Taiwanese Sticky Rice Sausage
    Duck Gua Boa (only Kieran)
    Candied Fruit
    Layer Cake
    Milk Tea

    Spots:
    Chiayi City
    Wenhau Night Market
    En savoir plus

  • Day 275: Alishan Forest

    11 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Alishan Forest stretches across the Alishan mountain range and is known for its countless tea farms. Tea plants flourish here due to the humidity and mist provided from clouds passing through every few minutes. We rode the local bus and met Alexes from Paraguay who is studying in Taiwan for civil engineering. He shared that Taiwan and Paraguay have a close relationship and Taiwan built a university there. His program allows you to take two years of classes in Paraguay and then come to Taiwan for a year; he and 14 classmates came over and are having the best time.

    Our bus started its ascent into the mountains and it was STEEP. Lots of switch backs and little crevices. Research told us to hike the Tea and Mist Trail to enjoy the valleys, farms, and bamboo pathways. We made a mistake and got off at the wrong bus stop at the Tea AND Mist Trail. What we really needed was the bus stop to hike the Mist Trail….and then also the Tea Trail 🥴 we weren’t mad because the pit stop was cute and we found asparagus juice, tomato juice, and steamed bun with pork and black bean ❤️

    The other thing about this area is that walking on roads with no sidewalks is normal and Google Maps knows it’s normal. We are on small windy roads with almost zero shoulder and freaking out. We eventually meet a local who is walking on the roads as well so it makes us feel better.

    Finally arrive to the actual hiking trails and it was ethereal. We would walk through thick mist, only seeing the tea rows ahead and sporadically the fog would clear to deep valleys. The tall bamboo forest was a highlight for us and slapping them to make sounds (they’re hallow).

    Hiked for 2-3 hours and then trekked to Shizhuo for dinner. We ate shrimp friend rice for $3 and twice cooked pork for $5 😱😱😱 Grabbed some Alishan Black Tea and rode the bus back home.

    Food:
    Steamed pork and black bean bun
    Shrimp fried rice
    Twice cooked pork

    Spots:
    Alishan National Forest
    Shizhuo Shan
    En savoir plus

  • Day 276: Taichung

    12 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Guys….we aren’t cool enough to visit Taiwan. This country has a level creativity and style that is unmatched in anything we’ve seen thus far. Colorful pictures incoming.

    Between Chiayi and Taipei is the city Taichung which is an up and coming area for folks who want to pay less, but still commute to Taipei. We decided to stop in the city for the Rainbow Village!

    After the national government fled to the island, there were many soldiers that needed to be housed. The government built entire neighborhoods and villages for these troops. Overtime, the houses became run down and developers bought out the area to build huge complexes.

    One veteran, Huang Yung-fu, refused to move. He was alone so he started to paint his neighborhood and houses to save them from demolition. University students discovered his artwork and petitioned to preserve the village. The village stands today with colorful paintings and art from new artists based in Asia. Sadly, Huang Yung-fu passed away this January at the age of 100 🥺

    We bussed to the village and admired the incredible artwork. Furthermore, a Taoist temple stood nearby and we made a short stop to view the structure and statues. It was 100% worth the stop.

    We continued to our apartment in Taipei which is in the heart of the Ximending walking district, famed for entertainment, shopping, food, and street art. We went to a soup dumpling restaurant for dinner and accidentally ordered two large beers.

    Ximending at night was a sight; we saw street performers and girls handing out snakes. The crowd was huge and you just had to move with the flow nice and slow. After parading through the district, we found a quieter street with amazing graffiti and murals. It was soooo 90s hip hop and the music coming from surrounding bars elevated the experience. Kids/models dressed up super cool were taking pictures everywhere. Clearly, we weren’t ready for Taipei.

    Food:
    Soup dumplings

    Spots:
    Taichung
    Rainbow Veteran Village
    Ximending District
    En savoir plus

  • Day 277: Beitou Hot Springs

    13 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Today’s plan is a day trip out to Beitou, a geothermal area just outside of Taipei. The hour long metro ride took us through the city and the building were dotted along the mountain side.

    We started at the Beitou Hotspring Museum, built in an original bath house from 1913. This is one of the oldest bath houses in East Asia and appeared in dozens of Taiwanese movies, helping make Beitou famous across the country. Due to management instability, the house was abandoned in the 1980s before re-discovery and revitalization in 1994. The museum has brought increased awareness and tourism to the area, which has helped Beitou flourish in the past 20 years.

    Since we skipped breakfast, we went straight for lunch at a small restaurant in the town. We had some bubble tea, braised pork rice, tomato and beef udon soup, and hard-boiled, sulphur eggs. Kieran greatly appreciates the reduced intensity of Taiwanese cuisine aka no raw octopuses or wondering what he’s eating 😂

    We then visited two geothermal parks, Thermal Valley and Sulphur Valley. Each park had large thermal lakes with some geyser features. This area is unique as it produces a green acidic sulphur and a mineral known as Hokutolite; this mineral can only be found in Beitou springs. They would also mine sulphur and you could see the left over artifacts, structures, and geothermal pathways from this time.

    The Sulphur Valley included a small pool at the bottom to soak your feet. These pools always feel great after a lot of walking, we enjoyed sitting with the locals as the sun set and moon rises

    Taiwanese hot springs offer mixed gender pools and requires swim suits. We packed our bathing suits, expecting to be able to use the public bath. Unfortunately, the public house had some strict restrictions on the swimsuit type and Kieran’s swimsuit was too long lol

    We found a private resort which was the move because it offered 9 different baths with waterfall features, bubbles, and a really really hot tub 44.6 degrees C! We hop on a local bus with two older ladies. Two stops before our stop, one comes over and asks where are we headed and we say Spring Valley resort. She yells at the driver to tell him and we realize they think we are lost, confused westerners who hopped on a random bus 😤

    We near the stop and hit the bus stop button and the ladies cheer us and give us double thumbs up because we know how to use their buses and where to get off at 👍🏻👍🏻 They fucking cheered for us all the way when we exited properly and said thank you in Chinese 😭😭😭 never have felt so encouraged and supported in our lives for the basics.

    The hot springs were great and the hotel offered a free shuttle back to the train station; we accepted the shuttle to avoid any future bus interaction with locals 🤣 stopped by two food stands on the way home and went to bed.

    Food:
    Braised beef and rice
    Tomato and beef udon
    Sulfur eggs
    Onion pie
    Ximending nabeyaki egg noodles

    Spots:
    Beitou Hot Spring Museum
    Thermal Valley
    Sulphur Valley
    Spring Valley Resort
    En savoir plus

  • Day 278: Jioufen Old Street

    14 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Today we ventured to Jioufen Town and toured its Old Street. Jiufen became a gold mining town during the Japanese occupation; many Japanese miners and their families built Jiufen’s unique architecture and infrastructure, including its famous narrow alleys, tea houses, and lantern-lined streets.

    They built it too well that millions of articles mistakenly said Jioufen was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s movie Spirited Away. This isn’t true at all (because obviously a Japanese town would be the inspiration), but the village buys into the gimmick anyway.

    We loved the narrow streets and street food we could try.

    Food:
    Taiwanese meat balls
    Peanut Butter Ice cream
    Taiwanese Craft Beer

    Spots:
    Jioufen
    En savoir plus

  • Day 279: Taipei City Hall

    15 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    We were overdue for haircuts so beauty day in Taipei was the plan. Mary located Eddies Hair Salon who specializes in English; Eddie himself was from Malaysia and lived in London for 20 years before moving to Taiwan with his wife. You could tell he lived in the 90s London with spiky black hair, band t-shirt, rolled up trousers, and really cool red sneakers. It was super punk. Kieran found a random walk in place and scraped by with pictures lol

    We met up at the Taipei 101 building for original Din Tai Fung Michelin Star Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao)!! They were so amazing that Mary teared up reflecting on Gap Year and how lucky we were to be eating actual soup dumplings in Taiwan and not Philly, San Diego, or St. Louis (similar to sushi in Japan).

    We spent the rest of the afternoon at Lungshan Temple. The temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers, and was accidentally bombed by the US in WWII….ANYWAY, the temple got rebuilt.

    It’s a multi-denominational temple where the following religions can be practiced: Chinese Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and folk religions. Everyone is welcome to the temples as long as you don’t get in the way of worshipers, and there were so many worshipers here!

    Furthermore, it’s a donation center for the homeless and they congregated outside. So inside you could buy food or bring food as an offering that would be donated to those without shelter. It was a very cathartic and beautiful place; amazingly peaceful in the middle of a city and we loved the colors and wind blowing the lanterns back and forth.

    Food:
    Xiao Long Bao
    Onion Pies
    Meat skewers

    Spots:
    Taipei City Hall
    Taipei 101 Building
    Lungshan Temple
    En savoir plus

  • Day 280: Ximending Food & Rest

    16 octobre 2024, Taïwan ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Decided to have a rest day, and by rest we mean eat a lot of food and re-watch Attack on Titan. Highlights include spending some of the money coworker Mark gave us to recreate work trip meals with him and Jared. The hilarious thing is that the Taiwanese hate wasting food and they want people to have restraint when ordering. There is not much restraint when Mark, Jared, and Mary go to dinner (or lunch).

    So we had Taiwanese Beef Noodles and Chili Wontons for one meal (couldn’t find the crullers) and Spicy Mala Hot Pot for dinner. Also got a very delicious donut and found Ovaltine.

    Food:
    Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
    Chili pepper wontons
    Hot and Sour Soup Wontons
    Spicy Mala Hotpot
    Donut
    Ovaltine
    Attack on Titan soda

    Spots:
    Ximending Walking District
    En savoir plus