Taiwan: Part Two

We made our way to Taichung from Tainan on the train. It was a busy two hour train where we were stood for most of it which was a bit of a pain. However, we made it to Taichung and headed to our hotel. This hotel was not the nicest one that we have had so far (to say the least). It was not particularly clean but it did the job. The location was great, right next to a nightmarket and so we headed there for some dinner! We came across what looked like a roti canai with spring onion in it, turns out it is a Taiwanese dish called scallion pancakes. This was my choice for dinner. Chris had a bite of my pancake and bit into his tongue. I had never seen a bite that deep into a tongue before; it was purple and had a load of blood gushing out of it (gross). After a trip back to the hotel, Chris managed to have something to eat besides his tongue flesh. It was very quiet that night as it was painful for Chris to speak. Every cloud...

Luckily, by the following day, the tongue had healed quite a bit. Our plans for the day involved visiting a popular tourist destination that is close to Taichung - Sun Moon Lake. 

It is around two hours from Taichung amid the beautiful countryside. We bought a pass that included a return journey from Taichung, bike rental, boat cruise and a bus pass around the lake. When we arrived, the first thing that was obvious was how touristy this destination is as we were greeted in English. During most of our trip in Taiwan, the majority of people we met could not speak much English. We made our way to the pier and enjoyed a boat ride around the lake.

We stopped at a temple and a village before returning to Shuishe. This is where we tried the whippy style ice cream. The popular flavour they had was black tea, Chris opted for this and I went for a vanilla and chocolate combo. We were quite disappointed to be fair and probably wouldn't bother having it again (not sweet enough). 

We made our way back to get some bikes and cycled around the lake. It was a really nice afternoon even though Chris tried to get me to cycle around the whole lake (unfortunately not enough time). Back on the bus after this and to a pizza shack at the nightmarket for some delicious pizza.

The next day we explored Taichung. Despite it being such a large city, there wasn't too much to see in the city. We went to parks, visited the Confucius Temple and did a little shopping. I'm at that point now where I am very fed up of wearing the same clothes. 

Our trip to Taipei was not as straightforward as we had hoped and quite embarrassing. On all the other trains, we were allowed to use a card called an Ipass, similar to the Oyster card back in the UK but it's used on most public transport. I assumed all the trains would allow you to use this pass but I was wrong. We were asked for a ticket by the guard and, as we didn't have one, had to pay for a ticket and a fine of 50% of the ticket cost. As if this was not bad enough, we actually didn't have enough cash on us and so we were told we would have to get off at the next station to pay. As we have travelled to so many different countries by now, we usually have some spare notes from other countries on us. In desperation, I asked if we could pay in Singapore Dollars and luckily he agreed! I was glad this was our last train journey in Taiwan! 

After we reached our hotel, we wondered around another nightmarket and enjoyed some dinner.

On our first day in Taipei, we explored Daan Forest Park, Lugshan Temple, Xingtian Temple and the National Palace Museum. We ended up catching a bus back to a metro station close to another nightmarket and so explored the Shilin area before heading back. 

The next day, we opted to explore Jiufen, a nearby town that is said to be an inspiration for the Spirited Away film. We decided to trust google maps to catch two buses instead of going on the train (big mistake). The first bus was straight forward but when we arrived at our interchanging station there was a notice saying that our next bus did not stop there anymore. We tried to find another bus stop and around half an hour later we finally found one. We were waiting for the bus and as the first one arrived Chris had gone to the toilet and so we couldn't get on that one. The next one arrived around 20 minutes later but this one was full. We were waiting for an hour and a half for a bus to take us. Eventually we managed to get one and we were on our way (three hours later). Bloody buses!

The town of Jiufen is beautiful. There are narrow little streets with lanterns everywhere. We enjoyed wondering around and stayed to see it in the dark all lit up.

We ended up in a tea house inspired by the film Spirited Away which was expensive but cool! Chris enjoyed many cups of tea.

On our last day in Taipei, we explored the Confucius Temple, Bopiliao Old Street, Liberty Square/National Memorial Hall, Elephant Mountain and Taipei 101. 

It was a good day of exploring and the view from Elephant Mountain was amazing! It was actually much better than up Taipei 101 as there was poor visibility at the top. Despite this, we had a nice night appreciating the beautiful architecture of the building and how tall it is.

I really enjoyed our time in Taiwan and wished we also visited the East coast, but there's always next time! I loved the night markets and all of the temples that were there. I would recommend a visit here if you want a break from all of the touristy places and enjoy a beautiful country.