Kaohsiung

After escaping the sex hotel we had a long journey up to the mountains, Alishan, I read, is a popular place for people who like mountains but can’t be arsed to trek up them, sounded just right! It was a really nice break from the sweaty cities as the temperature dropped to 16 degrees! Dodging the rain, (apparently it rains there more than it does in Devon!) we sat on the back of a fast bouncy bus, on a very windy, steep mountain road, into the National Park. On arrival (after recovering from nearly being sick), we did the rounds. Consisting of riding an old logging train track, a few lovely walks with 1000 yr old Red Cyprus cedars dotted around (the ones that the Japanese hadn’t logged back in the day) and enjoying an atmospheric cloud forest. It truly was a stunning place, we watched the sunset/sunrise over the mountains, and topped it all off with some traditional, mountain hot pots!

Next stop, a town called Sun Moon Lake, via another extremely windy bus ride down through the mountains! We arrived at the large man-made reservoir (that as its name sake suggests is the shape of a sun and moon, questionable) 🤨!! We hired bikes, cycled around, went on a few boats and finally a cable car with a glass bottom, which Otto was very unsure about!!.

Heading back to the west coast, we stopped for a few nights in a city called Kaohsiung. Dubbed, in our guide book, as the Birmingham of Taiwan, I can’t comment on that as I’ve never been to Birmingham! Anyway, it must be a lovely city because we really liked Kaohsiung. Once an industrial port horror with little to offer, (according to the Brannt guide that we stole from a hostel), it has now rebranded itself with really interesting art spaces and some great museums. So, we first ticked off the must see tourist stuff, big glass ceiling in a train station, a very kitch temple on a lake where you have to go through a massive mouth of a Dragon and out through that of a Tiger (for good luck……Otto loved it). Then we spent the rest of our time exploring. I was experiencing a craving for western food so (no judgement), we ended up in a British bar and felt very at home in an Asia style take off of a pub that resembled Cheers, somewhere in the 1990s! So that satisfied that!

After Kaohsiung we tripped down to the southern point of the country, Kenting, a Taiwanese beach and surf resort. Unfortunately, we turned up to our hotel and there was obscenely loud pneumatic drilling in the attached building, it was insanely noisy, not the most relaxing few days by the sea. I had a mixture of feelings here, it was a bit like 90s Europe with a Chinese flavour. Banana boats, jet skis, grim hotel complexes and the usual ugly architecture that blights Taiwan. Not selling it in the best light, but we did have a good time. And yes, (Freda insisted), we got on a banana boat!! A first for all of us…..

We then spent a day on the train going up to Hualien, the gateway to Taroko Gorge, Taiwan’s number one tourist attraction! And it didn’t disappoint, a truly spectacular natural wonder. A highlight amongst many.

We were on our last legs in Taiwan, and we thought maybe the kid’s deserved a posh hotel with a pool, also an amazing sea and mountain view. So we had a one day blow out and enjoyed the finer things in life. The beach was a non swimming beach, this we found out mainly when we took a short stroll along it. While I was in awe taking pics, Otto finding shells in the sand, we realised the almighty forces of nature and had to run for dear life away from an extreme wave. We had no idea! Happened again a few minutes later!!! I’m not sure Otto will step foot on a beach again! Later that evening, Mitch found out there was currently a super typhoon off the coast (see Mitch for details as he spent most of the night looking it up). However, it was one of the strongest typhoons on record in the mouth of May and was only sitting a hundred miles or so off the coast, outside of Taiwan!!

With the wind picking up we felt we needed to get out of there before it was too late, so we jumped on the train for our last two nights in Taipei. We a had a few more things to tick off the list, bubble tea, one more katsu curry, one last soup dumplings, Photo Booth, poo themed restaurant and national palace museum.
All done, so we are off to Sabah!!

If you’ve made it this far, well done!! We really enjoyed Taiwan, main complaint is that there is a law that you have to wear swim hats in pools!!! Which sums up the culture of extreme rule abiding people. God forbid if you sit on the wrong seat on a train! The system starts malfunctioning. But that aside, maybe it’s us who are at fault? Lovely place lovely people.

When the kids are grown up I’m coming back, then I’ll get a motor bike and ride around the Taiwanese mountains.Read more