Made up in Taiwan
I remember getting up on a Sunday morning still a little bit worse from the night before and turning on my laptop only to discover an email from Wanderlust saying I had won a trip to Taiwan. I couldn’t believe it at first, then I showed Trish and we stood there in shock. Who goes to Taiwan for their holidays, where is it and isn’t it that place that makes dodgy toys?
I emailed them straight away and they got in touch on the Monday and said Trailfinders would be in contact soon to sort everything out. Traifinder got in touch and I said I would like to go in October for my birthday, which they kindly arranged, now it was only a six months wait. Those six months had us up the wall, we didn’t know what to take, what would the weather be like and so on, so we done some research on the net and were still none the wiser. As with most of our trips we over pack and hardly ever wear most of the clothes we take, usually because they are the wrong ones!!
The flight with EvaAir was a long one especially when there was a crying baby that annoyed everyone for the duration of the flight. On arriving at Taipei airport we collected our baggage and made our way to the exit, only for a masked lady to jump out in front of me and stick a thermometer in my ear for ten seconds, before I got the all clear; it’s a surreal experience when you are still tired. We then came out of the arrivals hall to be met by Mr. Woo (Great name) who ushered us into his minibus and headed towards the metropolis that is Taipei, in silence. He dropped us off outside a hotel and pointed inside and was gone (Oh Mr. Woo what shall I do). We checked in and unbeknown to us was our guide Simon Foster in the lobby, who we would meet in the morning. Before we went up to the room we went into the adjoining 7-11 shop which are everywhere in Asia, and got a bottle of wine and a big bag of crisps for a night cap. At the till we looked on puzzled at the “thousand year old eggs” and decided to give it a miss. When we got up to our room we found the bed was like a slab of concrete and we'd never get asleep, it was one of the best night’s sleep we've ever had abroad.
The next day after a continental breakfast we met Simon who worked for Grasshopper Tours. Grasshopper tours were excellent and made our stay a very memorable one, one of the best thing about it was Trish and I were the only people booked on that tour; so it was a personnel guided tour for two. The first day we got out of Taipei and headed off into the tea plantations a couple of hours away. We spent an hour or so learning how tea was made then we went into the gift shop were the lady kindly brewed up some wonderful teas in the traditional way for us to try. There were hundreds of different teas on offer but unfortunately we had only just started our journey and didn’t want to start buying too many things yet.
It was off to visit the beautiful Taroko gorge next, which involved driving round half of the island. This might sound unappealing but it was a great way to see the country, especially going up and down in the mountains with the terrain changing all the time, one minute you think you're in Asia, next it could be Europe particularly when you go past the huge cement plant. This is the only blot on this beautiful island, trust me. We even managed to see the Macaque monkeys picking fruit at the side of the road, then had our picture taken with one of the most beautiful backdrops you will ever see. After that we had lunch by the beach, where we met some Chinese people. The Chinese were eating sweet potatoes and we were eating sandwiches, to which the Chinese man started laughing and in broken English said “All foreigners love sam-mij”, then disappeared sweet potato in mouth, up the hill; to this day we can't stop saying sam-mij in the same way. This left the beautiful deserted beach for us to enjoy alone and marvel at how beautiful the surround where.
This only left a drive of about an hour to the gorge, where the weather changed so suddenly, it became black and atmospheric with plenty of rain. Once we arrive at the hotel we checked into our room and it had one of the best and worst showers in the world depending on how you look at it. Right below was a torrent of water tumbling down the gorge and it seemed like you were going to plunge right into it out of the full length windows. After the scary shower we went down had something to eat and a few beers, then decided to call it a night as we had to be up early. Back in our room the noise from the water in the gorge was deafening, and somehow we had to try and get some sleep. It was a strange sleep that night, waking up a few times still half asleep, listening to the deafening roar outside made for a very surreal experience. The next morning Simon told us that it was a torrential storm that had passed over, and had now washed away the road, the only road in the direction we needed to go. We hastily ate our breakfast and jumped in the minibus and joined the queue waiting for the earth movers to remove enough of he landslide to let us through. Fortunately we were one of the first to get through, and later learned that there had been another collapse and the road was closed for a few more days!
After snaking our way through the magnificent gorge we made our way to Fo Guang Shan monastery in Kaohsiung. We arrived about four in the afternoon and was shown round the vast grounds of the monastery by one of the monks. We got to see the giant Buddha surrounded by hundreds of other little Buddha’s just as the sun was setting, it made for some great photos. After the sun went down we went for dinner in the monastery’s restaurant and had hot pot, but no lamb chops in this one only vegetables and tofu, mighty fine it was as well.
We were then shown our room for the night, it was sparse but clean, with two single beds and an en-suite bathroom. We set the alarm to get up at 5:00 am to hear the monks chanting their prayers and to have breakfast with them. Once up we made our way down to reception and were told to join the back of the snake like procession to the main temple at Fo Guang Shan Monastery, at five o’clock in the morning it’s a pretty surreal thing. On entering we are guided to benches at the side of the monastery while the monks find their places like a row of pushed down dominoes. A few seconds pass and then drums begin to beat and chanting starts to stir the body into life in a whole new way.
We are encouraged to join in by an enthusiastic monk who points to the words in a fashion that makes no sense at all. All the time the body is being stimulated as the chanting gets louder and louder till your body starts to tingle and you feel a strange urge to join in. After an hour everything stops and it goes back to deadly silence, a monk rings a bell and the dominoes stand up and snake their way back out the door and down the hill.
We immediately get up and start to follow down the hill to the large communist looking dining hall. On arrival we are given pride of place sitting in the front row of a dining hall that seats six hundred monks. The rest of the monks make their way to their respective places based on their standing in the monastery.
Once again it goes silent and everyone bows their heads but a little sneak view enables me to see a few monks with big buckets of porridge dishing it out on to people’s plate closely followed by three stalks of pak choi. A bell chimes and the monks start to devour their breakfast, we on the other hand look at each other and think is six o’clock in the morning a good time to eat this or is there a good time to eat pak choi and porridge? I think to myself in for a penny and set about eating the breakfast, surprisingly it goes down easily with a large glass of water.
The only tricky thing to do now is place the cutlery back down in the order we were shown, this is more like the krypton factor than a straight forward finish to a meal. After a couple of minutes I manage it and lean back on my chair and think of the great experience I have just been part of. So if you get the chance go and visit and stay the night (well half of it) and go and see the monks chant; a truly moving experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
One of the friendliest places we visited where the people were so friendly was Kenting Town in the national park of the same name. It had some of the most beautiful beaches you have ever seen and some of the most spectacular sunsets you will ever witness. We went to the most southern point in Taiwan and stood on the lookout point and nearly got blew out to sea, ideal for kites but not scousers. Back in Kenting Town it was like being a celebrity at night when everyone came out they would stop and say hello and practice their English on you, a truly nice place to visit.
Simon then took us to the beautiful Sun Moon Lake on my birthday The drive there was wonderful going past Tudor style houses bordered by palm trees, which was a bit nuts in the sweltering heat. Once there we stayed in a hotel with a large Jacuzzi bath and overlooking the lake. It seemed like every half an hour there would be a possession on the water by monks and followers going over to the sacred Isle to get a blessing, it was all very colourful and magical to watch. In the afternoon Simon took us out on a boat trip around the lake and we celebrated my birthday with a bottle of wine Simon produced from somewhere and not bad at all. In the evening we ate in a beautiful restaurant that looked like it was owned by a pirate who didn’t like the light. The food was great, so many courses to get through, made for a lovely long evening, even the owner appeared a few times to say hello, I’m sure we wouldn’t have found a better restaurant by ourselves, good to have the guide with us.
The next day we were off again to Tainan the former ancient capital of Taiwan. The journey took a couple of hours through more breathtaking countryside and villages, watching out for people burning “Ghost money” as an offering to the gods. Coming in to Tainan is just like any other big Asian city, lots of tall building, traffic and we even saw a sign for Tesco’s! Tainan still had lots of old little temples dotted throughout the city, dwarfed by all the tall building and some threatened with demolition in the name of progress. We visited a few there while ceremonies were going on, watching the odd person go into a frenzy while others were lightning candles, josh sticks and burning more ghost money. All in all it was a veritable feast for the eyes and camera, especially after we came out of Confucius’ temple to see a full on parade going down the street, dragons and drums aplenty.
After a night in another hotel it was time to go on the road again only this time it was a short journey to the railway station to go on the legendary bullet train, only Taiwan’s trains look more like platypuses. It a great experience going on these smooth as silk trains, hurtling through the paddy fields and high rise cities along the way, the journey is over before you know it. We arrived underground in Taipei and emerged via the escalator into a teaming metropolis and right by what was then the tallest building in the world Taipei 101.
Simon arranged for us to go up Taipei 101 with a local guide Abraham, who thought he was leading a large tour not just Trish and I. Everywhere we went he would hold up a clip board to indicate the way or just to show the other tour guides he was a tour leader also. Abraham had a few quirky facts up his sleeve, like how he told us and everyone in the elevator that if you put wheels on the elevator it was fast enough to drive it on the road, fascinating!!! Taipei 101 was well worth a visit as it had wonderful panoramic views of the surrounding area, as far as the eye could see and lots more facts that Abraham told us but we forgot. Abraham would often annoy Mr. Woo who was now driving us around Taipei by telling him where to park what time to be there, all of which Mr. Woo took no notice; but tell Abraham in Chinese what he thought of his proposals and you didn’t have to speak the language to understand.
Abraham also showed us around the National Palace museum which had numerous carving of jade, and one of Taiwan’s national pieces “The Jadeite Cabbage and The Pork shaped stone”. While showing us these particular pieces Abraham went into a fit of laughter and tried to explain the pork and cabbage joke, but this was lost on us, even when we asked Simon later he was none the wiser. Oh well, we put it down to one of those wonderful quirks of traveling.
In the evening Simon to us to Shilin night market for something to eat and for Trish to buy me a birthday present, for which I am known to be notoriously hard to buy for (What do you get the man who has everything?). We sat down and Simon ordered in his excellent Chinese, and within minutes the table was full of delicious freshly cooked food that cost buttons. After our feast we went on the hunt for my birthday present, it was now going to be a pair of Adidas trainers that were not on sale in the west, but after about an hour in the sweltering heat we all gave up and I decided to have a black Onitsuka Tiger jacket, which was not available in this style in the west, result. That was the last evening we spent in great country and hopefully we will return on day to do it all again.
Taiwan is a beautiful stunning country that everyone should visit if they are traveling to Asia, so give this wonderful country a go, you’ll love it.
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I emailed them straight away and they got in touch on the Monday and said Trailfinders would be in contact soon to sort everything out. Traifinder got in touch and I said I would like to go in October for my birthday, which they kindly arranged, now it was only a six months wait. Those six months had us up the wall, we didn’t know what to take, what would the weather be like and so on, so we done some research on the net and were still none the wiser. As with most of our trips we over pack and hardly ever wear most of the clothes we take, usually because they are the wrong ones!!
The flight with EvaAir was a long one especially when there was a crying baby that annoyed everyone for the duration of the flight. On arriving at Taipei airport we collected our baggage and made our way to the exit, only for a masked lady to jump out in front of me and stick a thermometer in my ear for ten seconds, before I got the all clear; it’s a surreal experience when you are still tired. We then came out of the arrivals hall to be met by Mr. Woo (Great name) who ushered us into his minibus and headed towards the metropolis that is Taipei, in silence. He dropped us off outside a hotel and pointed inside and was gone (Oh Mr. Woo what shall I do). We checked in and unbeknown to us was our guide Simon Foster in the lobby, who we would meet in the morning. Before we went up to the room we went into the adjoining 7-11 shop which are everywhere in Asia, and got a bottle of wine and a big bag of crisps for a night cap. At the till we looked on puzzled at the “thousand year old eggs” and decided to give it a miss. When we got up to our room we found the bed was like a slab of concrete and we'd never get asleep, it was one of the best night’s sleep we've ever had abroad.
The next day after a continental breakfast we met Simon who worked for Grasshopper Tours. Grasshopper tours were excellent and made our stay a very memorable one, one of the best thing about it was Trish and I were the only people booked on that tour; so it was a personnel guided tour for two. The first day we got out of Taipei and headed off into the tea plantations a couple of hours away. We spent an hour or so learning how tea was made then we went into the gift shop were the lady kindly brewed up some wonderful teas in the traditional way for us to try. There were hundreds of different teas on offer but unfortunately we had only just started our journey and didn’t want to start buying too many things yet.
It was off to visit the beautiful Taroko gorge next, which involved driving round half of the island. This might sound unappealing but it was a great way to see the country, especially going up and down in the mountains with the terrain changing all the time, one minute you think you're in Asia, next it could be Europe particularly when you go past the huge cement plant. This is the only blot on this beautiful island, trust me. We even managed to see the Macaque monkeys picking fruit at the side of the road, then had our picture taken with one of the most beautiful backdrops you will ever see. After that we had lunch by the beach, where we met some Chinese people. The Chinese were eating sweet potatoes and we were eating sandwiches, to which the Chinese man started laughing and in broken English said “All foreigners love sam-mij”, then disappeared sweet potato in mouth, up the hill; to this day we can't stop saying sam-mij in the same way. This left the beautiful deserted beach for us to enjoy alone and marvel at how beautiful the surround where.
This only left a drive of about an hour to the gorge, where the weather changed so suddenly, it became black and atmospheric with plenty of rain. Once we arrive at the hotel we checked into our room and it had one of the best and worst showers in the world depending on how you look at it. Right below was a torrent of water tumbling down the gorge and it seemed like you were going to plunge right into it out of the full length windows. After the scary shower we went down had something to eat and a few beers, then decided to call it a night as we had to be up early. Back in our room the noise from the water in the gorge was deafening, and somehow we had to try and get some sleep. It was a strange sleep that night, waking up a few times still half asleep, listening to the deafening roar outside made for a very surreal experience. The next morning Simon told us that it was a torrential storm that had passed over, and had now washed away the road, the only road in the direction we needed to go. We hastily ate our breakfast and jumped in the minibus and joined the queue waiting for the earth movers to remove enough of he landslide to let us through. Fortunately we were one of the first to get through, and later learned that there had been another collapse and the road was closed for a few more days!
After snaking our way through the magnificent gorge we made our way to Fo Guang Shan monastery in Kaohsiung. We arrived about four in the afternoon and was shown round the vast grounds of the monastery by one of the monks. We got to see the giant Buddha surrounded by hundreds of other little Buddha’s just as the sun was setting, it made for some great photos. After the sun went down we went for dinner in the monastery’s restaurant and had hot pot, but no lamb chops in this one only vegetables and tofu, mighty fine it was as well.
We were then shown our room for the night, it was sparse but clean, with two single beds and an en-suite bathroom. We set the alarm to get up at 5:00 am to hear the monks chanting their prayers and to have breakfast with them. Once up we made our way down to reception and were told to join the back of the snake like procession to the main temple at Fo Guang Shan Monastery, at five o’clock in the morning it’s a pretty surreal thing. On entering we are guided to benches at the side of the monastery while the monks find their places like a row of pushed down dominoes. A few seconds pass and then drums begin to beat and chanting starts to stir the body into life in a whole new way.
We are encouraged to join in by an enthusiastic monk who points to the words in a fashion that makes no sense at all. All the time the body is being stimulated as the chanting gets louder and louder till your body starts to tingle and you feel a strange urge to join in. After an hour everything stops and it goes back to deadly silence, a monk rings a bell and the dominoes stand up and snake their way back out the door and down the hill.
We immediately get up and start to follow down the hill to the large communist looking dining hall. On arrival we are given pride of place sitting in the front row of a dining hall that seats six hundred monks. The rest of the monks make their way to their respective places based on their standing in the monastery.
Once again it goes silent and everyone bows their heads but a little sneak view enables me to see a few monks with big buckets of porridge dishing it out on to people’s plate closely followed by three stalks of pak choi. A bell chimes and the monks start to devour their breakfast, we on the other hand look at each other and think is six o’clock in the morning a good time to eat this or is there a good time to eat pak choi and porridge? I think to myself in for a penny and set about eating the breakfast, surprisingly it goes down easily with a large glass of water.
The only tricky thing to do now is place the cutlery back down in the order we were shown, this is more like the krypton factor than a straight forward finish to a meal. After a couple of minutes I manage it and lean back on my chair and think of the great experience I have just been part of. So if you get the chance go and visit and stay the night (well half of it) and go and see the monks chant; a truly moving experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
One of the friendliest places we visited where the people were so friendly was Kenting Town in the national park of the same name. It had some of the most beautiful beaches you have ever seen and some of the most spectacular sunsets you will ever witness. We went to the most southern point in Taiwan and stood on the lookout point and nearly got blew out to sea, ideal for kites but not scousers. Back in Kenting Town it was like being a celebrity at night when everyone came out they would stop and say hello and practice their English on you, a truly nice place to visit.
Simon then took us to the beautiful Sun Moon Lake on my birthday The drive there was wonderful going past Tudor style houses bordered by palm trees, which was a bit nuts in the sweltering heat. Once there we stayed in a hotel with a large Jacuzzi bath and overlooking the lake. It seemed like every half an hour there would be a possession on the water by monks and followers going over to the sacred Isle to get a blessing, it was all very colourful and magical to watch. In the afternoon Simon took us out on a boat trip around the lake and we celebrated my birthday with a bottle of wine Simon produced from somewhere and not bad at all. In the evening we ate in a beautiful restaurant that looked like it was owned by a pirate who didn’t like the light. The food was great, so many courses to get through, made for a lovely long evening, even the owner appeared a few times to say hello, I’m sure we wouldn’t have found a better restaurant by ourselves, good to have the guide with us.
The next day we were off again to Tainan the former ancient capital of Taiwan. The journey took a couple of hours through more breathtaking countryside and villages, watching out for people burning “Ghost money” as an offering to the gods. Coming in to Tainan is just like any other big Asian city, lots of tall building, traffic and we even saw a sign for Tesco’s! Tainan still had lots of old little temples dotted throughout the city, dwarfed by all the tall building and some threatened with demolition in the name of progress. We visited a few there while ceremonies were going on, watching the odd person go into a frenzy while others were lightning candles, josh sticks and burning more ghost money. All in all it was a veritable feast for the eyes and camera, especially after we came out of Confucius’ temple to see a full on parade going down the street, dragons and drums aplenty.
After a night in another hotel it was time to go on the road again only this time it was a short journey to the railway station to go on the legendary bullet train, only Taiwan’s trains look more like platypuses. It a great experience going on these smooth as silk trains, hurtling through the paddy fields and high rise cities along the way, the journey is over before you know it. We arrived underground in Taipei and emerged via the escalator into a teaming metropolis and right by what was then the tallest building in the world Taipei 101.
Simon arranged for us to go up Taipei 101 with a local guide Abraham, who thought he was leading a large tour not just Trish and I. Everywhere we went he would hold up a clip board to indicate the way or just to show the other tour guides he was a tour leader also. Abraham had a few quirky facts up his sleeve, like how he told us and everyone in the elevator that if you put wheels on the elevator it was fast enough to drive it on the road, fascinating!!! Taipei 101 was well worth a visit as it had wonderful panoramic views of the surrounding area, as far as the eye could see and lots more facts that Abraham told us but we forgot. Abraham would often annoy Mr. Woo who was now driving us around Taipei by telling him where to park what time to be there, all of which Mr. Woo took no notice; but tell Abraham in Chinese what he thought of his proposals and you didn’t have to speak the language to understand.
Abraham also showed us around the National Palace museum which had numerous carving of jade, and one of Taiwan’s national pieces “The Jadeite Cabbage and The Pork shaped stone”. While showing us these particular pieces Abraham went into a fit of laughter and tried to explain the pork and cabbage joke, but this was lost on us, even when we asked Simon later he was none the wiser. Oh well, we put it down to one of those wonderful quirks of traveling.
In the evening Simon to us to Shilin night market for something to eat and for Trish to buy me a birthday present, for which I am known to be notoriously hard to buy for (What do you get the man who has everything?). We sat down and Simon ordered in his excellent Chinese, and within minutes the table was full of delicious freshly cooked food that cost buttons. After our feast we went on the hunt for my birthday present, it was now going to be a pair of Adidas trainers that were not on sale in the west, but after about an hour in the sweltering heat we all gave up and I decided to have a black Onitsuka Tiger jacket, which was not available in this style in the west, result. That was the last evening we spent in great country and hopefully we will return on day to do it all again.
Taiwan is a beautiful stunning country that everyone should visit if they are traveling to Asia, so give this wonderful country a go, you’ll love it.
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