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Sophie JonesSophie Jones
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traveled in 22 countries Read more
  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    Day 384

    Taipei

    December 31, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    I finished up my time in Taiwan back in Taipei just in time for new years. Taipei is a famous place to see new years in because of the iconic fireworks display that takes off from the Taipei 101. For hours beforehand people start congregating anywhere that has a view of the tower. Some people arrive super early in the day with their huge cameras, but most people start arriving in the evening along with food and drinks to picnic with. There was also a free concert going on with famous Kpop artists that I watched for a while. About 10ish I found a little patch of grass with a good view of the tower and settled in with my own picnic of my favourite squid flavoured snacks and a bottle of wine from the 7-Eleven. Before I knew it it was time for the count down, and the fireworks really didn't disappoint! Immediately after the streets started clearing as people headed home. Considering the size of the crowds there was hardly any rubbish or misbehaviour, it wouldn't be this civilised at home!

    With a couple more days to explore Taipei I of course visited a few more night markets, including Shilin Night Market, the oldest and biggest night market in Taiwan. I joined a huge queue for some grilled king oyster mushrooms, I figured that if mushrooms of all things were that popular then they had to be good! Luckily they were! I also had one of my favourite Taiwanese street foods, which was ice cream with peanut brittle shavings and coriander, rolled into a little roll with some kind of roti. So much nicer than it sounds! One of my other favourite places to go was a hotpot stall in a night market close to my hotel where you could pick out what veg you wanted (and meat & seafood if you wanted it) and they cooked an amazing veggie hotpot with it. It was so nice to get some healthy food!

    My final bit of sightseeing included the towering Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall plus a chance witnessing of the changing of the guards, the Confucian Temple, the historic Dihua Street and UNESCO status Dalongdong Baoan Temple. Unfortunately the time had come for me to fly from Taiwan. For such a small country it really packed a punch!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    1
    Day 378

    Jiaoxi & Jifuen

    December 25, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    As a geologically active country on the Pacific ring of fire, Taiwan has hundreds of hot springs. Whole towns have sprung up around some of the springs, populated with public baths and hot springs hotels.

    As a Christmas treat I checked into a hot spring hotel in Jiaoxi. These hotels have private spas in each of the rooms, with the bathroom taking pride of place with full length windows overlooking the mountains. Wanting to make the most of this amazing hotel I spent most of my time chilling in the spa, with some local snacks, beer, and spirits.

    Jiaoxi is also a nice town to explore, with a good night market selling delicious street food and even mulled wine! It ran alongside a stream fed by hot springs lit up with Christmas decorations which was quite effective at putting me in the Christmas spirit despite my better intentions. The hotel even had Charlotte Church on the telly at breakfast!

    After a few days of pure relaxation I got back on the train and headed to Jifuen, an old mountain town that supposedly inspired the Studio Ghibli animated film Spirited Away. This makes the town very popular with tourists, and trying to navigate the famous old street was a nightmare as it was often packed with tour groups and day trippers. So after seeing this street once, which is mostly lined with souvenir shops anyway, I did everything I could to avoid it from then on! Luckily the town had many interesting and picturesque back streets which were fun to explore. Exploring the town felt a bit like snakes and ladders, if I came across a flight of stairs I took it to see where they took me, and the winding streets would often lead me back to where I started when I least expected it. It was also very wet when I was there, which meant that there was constantly heavy clouds covering the town, occasionally lifting slightly to give atmospheric views out over the mountain towards the sea.    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    16
    Day 374

    Hualien & Taroko Gorge

    December 21, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Next up was Hualien City on the east coast of Taiwan. The first thing that I noticed after getting off the train was that it was another place with incredibly loud military jets circling overhead quite frequently. I was the only person on the streets that stopped to watch them every time they flew over, obviously the locals are quite used to it!

    The reason for visiting Hualien is mainly Taroko Gorge, a 19km long valley carved by the Liwu River. The local geology is hard stone like marble and granite, so the valley has almost vertical walls towering high above you. There is a very narrow road running along the gorge, often carved into tunnels along the cliff. A local bus runs up and down this road which I took to get to Swallows Grotto. Swallows Grotto is a particularly spectacular off-shoot of the main valley, which is so named because of the swallows that nest on the cliff face. Although apparently most of the swallows have left the area because of the noise from the multiple tour busses and tour groups with megaphones passing through constantly! You're recommended to wear a hard hat on this part of the gorge but they didn't have any so I just had to keep an eye out for falling rocks. Luckily much of the trail runs through tunnels carved into the rock which made me feel safer. On the way back down the valley I stopped to visit the Eternal Spring Shrine, which was built at the point that a spring emerges from the rock to commemorate the 212 people that died while constructing the highway through the gorge.

    Aside from visiting Taroko Gorge I had plenty of time to explore Hualien. There is quite a dramatic coastline with black pebble beaches and bright turquoise water, which along with the stormy weather creating huge waves made me happy to just walk along it and watch the waves for hours. And of course back in the city you had to go to the night market for the best food. Stand outs that I had were dumplings and incredibly fresh sushi. There was a long queue for corn on the cob so of course I joined it. We had to pick the cob that you wanted, tell the server how cooked you wanted it (soft, medium or hard) and then how spicy you wanted the marinade. They then gave you a number and you waited for 20 minutes until your corn was ready. It was very nice but it seemed a bit much for corn! It was probably the most popular stall in the market though. I preferred the sushi!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    11
    Day 369

    Tainan

    December 16, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    Tainan was the old capital and is still the historical centre of Taiwan. Unlike Lukang it very much is a busy city and has been modernised, but it still has an old world charm to it. As you wander the streets you come across a mix of modern and newly renovated buildings, slightly tired looking tiled buildings from many decades past, early 20th century Japanese buildings from the occupied era, and countless temples of varying ages. This gave the effect of being in another era entirely. Many of the buildings in Taiwan are tiled because of the high humidity and rainfall, the tiles are supposed to protect the buildings from decay. These small green tiles along with the ubiquitous pot plants that are everywhere became very unique to Taiwan and specifically Tainan for me. Like Hong Kong, Tainan was the kind of city that I could have wandered around endlessly and never gotten bored.

    Aside from general wandering I visited many of the most important Buddhist and Taoist temples in the city. One of the most important is the Confucius Temple, built in 1665 and is probably the first education centre in Taiwan. I visited another temple for Matsu, the goddess of fishermen and the sea, an understandably popular deity in this island nation. There was also the God of War Temple, the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Hell, and many many more. It was at the Temple of Hell that I came across one of the parades of the gods, or youshen. I had no idea what this was at the time, it was just a lot of music, dancing, mysterious props, and firecrackers. Each part of the parade made sure to show their respect at the temple, and then moved on towards the next one. I only found out what this was later on from a Taiwanese friend. Once a year on the gods "birthday", a representation of the god is carried around the city so that it can revel with the locals and distribute blessings. It really was an assault on the senses but I loved it. Over the following days I saw many of these processions, and they seemed to get bigger and crazier each time, I'm amazed that the locals put up with all of the traffic disruption! You can tell that they're Buddhist.

    In addition to Temples there were some 17th century Dutch military structures to see including Chikan Tower and Anping Fort. Tainan is one of the cities with a military air base nearby, so every 20 minutes or so a number of jets fly over head as they practice their defence, which is quite important as China is constantly testing them by flying jets of their own nearby. It's quite an interesting experience visiting 400 year old defence structures as modern defence is taking place right above your head. While I was first alarmed at all of the signs pointing towards safety shelters across Taiwanese cities, it soon became a reassurance.

    More interesting than the fort for me was the nearby Anping Treehouse, an old port warehouse that has been completely taken over by sprawling banyan trees. The area has a really eerie feeling as the trees almost seem alive in the way that they have deliberately overtaken almost every surface. Other sites that I enjoyed in Tainan wad the Chin Wen Movie Theatre that still hand paint all of their movie posters. As well as the currently showing posters on the theatre, in the nearby area you can see many old painted posters, painted portraits of some movie stars and characters, and you can even see some posters being painted. And there was also Shennong Street, a well preserved traditional alley lined with boutiques, tea shops, and lanterns.

    As always Tainan has a series of night markets that you have to go to for the best street food. I tried a range of food including fish sticks and fried mushrooms, all very good. I did not however try the chicken feet! But who knows, maybe they were better than the century egg that I did try and regretted doing so. Century eggs have been preserved in clay or ash for several weeks to months. The white turns black and translucent, and the yolk turns a dark green with a creamy texture. When you first take a bite it seems ok, but then the ammonia taste hits you. How people eat this I don't know, my body was giving me very strong signals that this was not something that was ok to eat! I felt like I could still taste it for days afterwards. On the other hand the Dan-Tsu noodles, hand pulled noodles in a broth were excellent!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    113
    Day 366

    Taichung & Sun Moon Lake

    December 13, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Getting back on the bus I left Lukang and headed back to Taichung. Taichung is a large industrial city, and when you see "Made in Taiwan" on a product this is usually where it will have come from. However it still has a nice historical centre with some parks and excellent night markets where you can get good street food. Taichung is apparently where bubble tea was invented so obviously I had to get some here! Luckily you can order it without sugar, otherwise it is an incredibly sweet drink. Other things that made Taichung quite interesting are the reclaimed industrial areas, where old factories have been turned into artist co-ops or disused train lines that have been turned into parks. These were fun to discover as you wander around the city.

    Next I got on the bus once again and headed to Sun Moon Lake, the largest and most popular lake in Taiwan. The lake is very beautiful with bright turquoise water, and is so-called because apparently one side looks like the sun and the other side looks like the moon, although I can't really see it. There are boardwalks and pathways the majority of the way around the lake that I took advantage of. Sun Moon Lake is where I spent my one year anniversary of being on the road! On this day I went on a long hike around the lake, ending up at Wen Wu Temple, and to celebrate I had a special Taiwanese tea cocktail on a rooftop bar to watch the sunset.

    On my other days by the lake I explored some of the island via boat shuttles, and explored Ita Thao, the village that I was staying in. Ita Thao is inhabited by the Thao people, an indigenous tribe to Taiwan that are quite distinct culturally to the Han Chinese that dominate the island. Once again street food is a big part of the culture and there was plenty to choose from. My favourite was the "egg burgers", which isn't a burger at all but scrambled egg and cheese (and meat if you want) cooked in a hot mold and then some kind of pancake batter is added to encase it, it was delicious! I also loved the soy marinaded tofu, the tea eggs (eggs boiled in very strong tea), and tea flavoured ice cream. Wild boar seemed to be a local specialty here too, I didn't have it but it smelt great!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    232
    Day 361

    Lukang

    December 8, 2023 in Taiwan ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    I had originally intended to go to China after Hong Kong but Chinese bureaucracy got the better of me. Giving up on getting a Chinese visa I booked flights to Taipei with very few expectations. I'm glad that I did because Taiwan turned out to be a highlight of the trip! I only spent a day in Taipei before heading to Lukang, a small historical town on the west coast.

    Lukang was once a major port and the 2nd largest city in Taiwan. However, the silting of the port and the local governments refusal to build a train line led to a decline of the city. While unfortunate for the local economy this meant that Lukang avoided much of the modernization that other cities in Taiwan underwent leaving the historical centre well preserved.

    These days it is a chill yet bustling town, and although you don't tend to see many foreign tourists it is popular with the Taiwanese. The famous Lukang Old Street, which is lined with well preserved buildings housing souvenir shops and food stalls is rammed by day with Taiwanese day-trippers. Away from the old street there is a network of old lanes that are in normal everyday use as people's homes and businesses and are far less busy. Most of the lanes are too small for cars and can only be accessed by foot or moped. Some are so narrow that only one person at a time can pass through.

    Taiwan has a huge number of Chinese temples. One of the post popular is the Lukang Mazu Temple, a temple to the Goddess Mazu, the goddess of the sea and patron deity of fishermen. Like the Chinese temples in Hong Kong, these are very atmospheric with the incense, the chimes, and the activities of people having their fortunes read.

    One thing that Taiwan is famous for is the street food. As winter is strawberry season in Taiwan, there were many desserts and drinks containing them around - so I had to make the most of it! One of the favourites is the strawberry mochi. This is a strawberry packed in a red bean paste and then covered in 'mochi', a glutinous cake made of rice or cornstarch. By itself the mochi doesn't taste of much and has a strange texture, but with the bean and strawberry it's actually quite good. Another favourite of mine was a dumpling filled with oyster, egg, some kind of green veg, and glass noodles, with chilli sauce piped inside. This stall had a large queue so I knew to get in it and whatever they were cooking would be good, and I wasn't disappointed!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    1
    Day 358

    Hong Kong part 3

    December 5, 2023 in Hong Kong ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    In my final few days in Hong Kong I decided to get out of the city and see some of the other islands. First up I got a ferry to Lamma Island which has a laid back vibe and some nice paths to explore. I hiked to a nice beach with a great view of some kind of power plant, which is always what you want to see on a nature hike! The port town of Yung Shue Wan is far more relaxed than Hong Kong, it seems to attract the hippy expat types. There were some great bars and restaurants with all sorts of seafood on display in tanks.

    My next day trip out of the city was on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, where there are lots of nature trails. I took one called Dragons Back, mostly because I liked the name but also because I'd been told that you get great views of the area as it takes you along the ridges, or the "Dragons Back" of the hills. To get there I had to take the tram as far east as I could go to the suburb of Chai Wan, a part of the city that you rarely see tourists. I had to stop and take a wander through the market there, before hopping on a bus to the trail head. The hike did indeed have some lovely views especially as I reached the highest point at Shek O peak. From there it was downhill to Shek O Beach, where I celebrated with a tin of Tsing Tao beer.

    My final day trip was to Lantau Island, which is known for the giant Buddah. After getting a metro to the island, i queued for 2 hours to get the cable car to the top. I'd have just gotten the bus if I'd known it was going to take so long! The Buddah was very impressive though, and after climbing the 268 steps to get to the top of the hill it sits on I felt very enlightened! Nearby the Buddah was the Po Lin Monastery founded in 1906, for which the Buddah was built. This monastery was interesting for the giant incense sticks that were burning, and the many Buddha's inside.

    On my final evening in Hong Kong I had to finally visit Victoria Peak. I got up there on The Peak Tram which has been in operation since 1888 and is still wonderfully old fashioned. You have to hold on tight when going up as it was very steep. At the top I wandered around some of the trails to take in the views, and then stopped for some dinner and beers at one of the peak restaurants so I could watch sunset over the city one last time. Leaving Hong Kong was the first time I felt genuinely sad to go, I could have stayed there forever!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    1
    Day 356

    Macau

    December 3, 2023 in Macao ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Just a short ferry ride away from Hong Kong is Macau. Macau is a former Portuguese colony and you really get a sense of that as you wander around the historical centre, with the architecture and patterned paving, not to mention all of the pastel de natas. Also like Portugal was the life size nativity scenes across the city.

    There are some quite interesting sites to see including the mount fortress built in 1626 with a nice view of the city, and the ruins of St.Pauls, a catholic church built in 1640. The church burned down in 1835 leaving the facade still standing at the top of a hill.

    To see a bit more out of the centre I took a tour bus taking in some of the unusual architecture and the 338 meters high Macau Tower. Instead of going up the tower I decided to visit the food fair that was taking place at the bottom where I had some good green tea ice cream and some griddle cakes filled with fresh strawberries!

    Macau is the only Chinese city where casinos are legal, and there are plenty of them along with huge malls. Seemingly styling itself after Las Vegas some of the casino/hotel complexes are like mini cities including London, Paris, and Venice. I didn't stop at any of these though, opting to stay on the tour bus to the last stop of the ferry terminal where I headed back to Hong Kong.    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    Day 350

    Hong Kong part 2

    November 27, 2023 in Hong Kong ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    My time in Hong Kong continued with more of the same, just wandering the streets seeing what wonders can be discovered down random alleys. Every street in Hong Kong is interesting in some way and I don't think I'd have felt satisfied until I had walked down every one.
    One day I headed to the cultural sites of northern Kowloon such as the Buddhist Chi Lin Nunnery which was set in a peaceful garden with a large pond containing the biggest and most beautiful carp that I had seen. Then I headed to the Taoist Wong Tai Sin Temple which was full of people performing rituals to tell their fortunes, and surrounded with fortune tellers. The incense and the chanting was all very atmospheric, but I didn't opt for any fortune telling myself, I'd rather not know! Finally I headed for a walk through Kowloon Walled City Park, which is built on the site of Kowloon Walled City. Kowloon Walled City was a Chinese enclave within British Hong Kong that was essentially an ungoverned high rise slum with 35,000 people living in 6.4 acres of land (about the size of two rugby pitches). It was run by Chinese triads (organised crime syndicates), and illegal activity and squalor were rife leading the Hong Kong government to announce its demolition in 1987. After a lengthy eviction and relocation process it was finally demolished in 1995, with the park being built in its place. The park today is a pleasant and serene place for a walk, with parts of the foundations of the city still visible in some places although you'd never guess at the urban chaos that was there in the past.
    Back on Hong Kong Island I visited more temples, each of them unique and filled with incense. I visited the Blue House, a well preserved example of the tong lau tenament buildings common in parts of Asia in the first half of the 20th century. And of course I mostly got around on the famous trams, otherwise known as ding dings! Trams have been in use in Hong Kong since 1904 and are a great way to get around, I always chose to take a tram over the metro for the views while riding them, even if the journey took longer. They were also just a good way to spend time going around and seeing as much as possible from the top deck!    Read more

  • TravelerSophie's Trip
    1
    Day 343

    Hong Kong part 1

    November 20, 2023 in Hong Kong ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I fell in love with Hong Kong almost immediately. I had a hostel high up on the 14th floor of a dodgy building in Kowloon, the mainland part of Hong Kong. It's a fascinating place where I could happily spend hours just wandering around the streets, taking in the culture and architecture. Everywhere in Kowloon looks a little bit decrepit, there's something interesting to see everywhere you look and every now and then you'll come across a little Buddhist temple hidden away.

    A little more upmarket is Victoria Harbour, lined with fancy department stores and world class museums. This is a great spot to get a coffee and people watch for a couple of hours, see how many dogs in prams that you can spot. It is also the best place to watch the Victoria Harbour Light show, a slightly cheesy show where lasers flash around the sky off the top of the skyscrapers to music for 10 minutes.

    Kowloon is great for cheap food. Hong Kong was the start of an obsession with milk tea while I was in Asia. It's basically very strong tea boiled in milk and traditionally strained through a stocking, and drank either hot or iced. There were also great dumplings, dim sum, soups, noodles, and weirdly "pineapple bun" with spam, another hangover from British rule. I ordered this by accident, thinking I was ordering a pineapple bun and tomato which was on the menu, but they brought me the spam, it wasn't actually too bad! But I preferred the pineapple bun with condensed milk.

    While I spent a lot of time in Kowloon my first week there, I did manage to make it over to Hong Kong Island a few times via the Star Ferry, which had been in operation since 1898 with a fleet almost as old. The central part of Hong Kong Island is quite modern and westernised, but it is still interesting to walk around if you can manage the steep hills, and there's excellent food here from all over the world. Hong Kong Park is a tranquil space to explore the aviary and the terrapin filled lake, with the famous skyscrapers looming over you. The harbour front on that side of the harbour was another great spot to walk along and people watch, I quite enjoyed eves dropping on the British expats and watching the Chinese Hong Kongers fishing.    Read more

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