The time frame : 3 weeks in Taiwan !
The journey : Taipei – Yilan – Hualien / Taroke Gorge – Taitung – Kaoshiong – Alishan – Sun Moon Lake – Taipei
The plan : Travel at my own pace, fun on my own terms. Think and reflect, smile a lot and feel every moment with my whole being.
2017 – A time to re-calibrate, A year where I decided to take a gamble and made a conscious decision on a new journey, one where I wonder about it’s rightness sometimes . But as the saying go, 10 years from now I can say it is a life I’ve chosen, not one I’ve settled for. Even if it doesn’t work out and I hate it later on, I could still live with it knowing at least I’ve tried. Life isn’t about finding the shortest path to your final destination. It’s the journey isn’t it, just a longer path of discoveries and adventures.
CITY 1 : TAIPEI
Choose between the bus (125 TWD / 1 hour) or the train (160 TWD / 30-40mins) into the city – I decided to take the bus as I arrived at dawn and had time to kill.
Getting the Yoyo card (Transportation card) at the airport vending machine or 7/11 store will also be a good idea – increased convenience as this card can be used for most buses and trains around Taiwan, plus some discounts on certain train or bus rides, what’s not to like.
Taipei National Palace Museum
Taipei’s national museum is renowned for its many ancient original Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks from the Forbidden City / Palaces in China.
Taken away to avoid the ravages of war by Chiang Kai-Shek when he fled China, we can now enjoy some of the best of these historic Chinese art in Taiwan.
A friend had been raving about this place and I decided to pay it a visit.
Paid the entrance fee of NTD $250 and off I went. I happened to arrive at the right time where a free guided tour was about to start and I joined them. This was great as it gave me more insight into the different exhibitions. Definitely recommend this over the audio guide.
Ancient Chinese Calligraphy (the big ones on the left, the simplified Chinese characters we use today are smaller on the right), how do they even draw this out!
Famous Cabbage Jadite.
I was quite puzzled as to why this small cabbage was the most famous artifact in the museum, to which the guide explained it was all in the details.
The ability to masterfully craft this out was just the next level up in the art world and also the fact food was scarce in the past so the cabbage was also a symbol of abundance and fertility. Ok.
Chiang Kai Shek’s House and Garden
Great place to spend an hour or two exploring Chiang Kai-shek’s house and the surrounding garden. Photography wasn’t allowed inside the house but it’s worth a walk through the large halls and wide walkways, looking at plush couches, beds, calligraphy, study rooms, books, stylish clothing, hats and many more.
I love standing alone and still. With my eyes closed. Feeling everything. Taking it all in.
Love the mountains behind the houses.
Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Caught the changing of guards here by chance. A nice place to spend an hour or two browsing through the history of Taiwan’s founder.
Elephant Hill
Decided to hike up elephant hill one day and it was sure worth the hike under the hot scorching summer sun!
I decided to go further past the normal hiker path and thought I was lost when I hit an end with ropes up a huge rock. I was the only one around and I started to feel a bit scared – it felt pretty eerie all of a sudden when I stopped to look around. The trees were pretty close to each other , path got narrower and the afternoon sunlight started to get blocked out by the thick canopy above, making it darker. All these plus an over imaginative mind , I decided to back track and sang all the gospel hymns I knew. Whatever helped at that moment eh!
A few minutes later I ran into another hiker who was going up the path and decided I should follow him. I wasn’t satisfied, to be honest, not being able to find / complete the intended path and was glad to have met the other hiker.
Turned out all I had to do was climb up the rock with the help of the ropes.
The hiker suggested to walk on a bit more past a prayer / altar area, turn left and up a small ascent to a huge landing. Apparently this spot gave you the best view of Taipei city and he was right – the view up there was simply breathtaking.
No trees or higher hills blocking your view, here you get a 360 degree scenery treat.
Sat here for a while to take it all in, rest my feet and enjoy the serenity.
Love happenstance and love the reward after a hard climb.
Slowly descended and at the end, I discovered I had worked muscles I never knew existed, which remained sore for a week. Absolutely worth it for that view. Plus, the sleep that night was easy and thoroughly satisfying. Who needs sleeping pills now eh?
CITY 2 : YILAN
Next stop – Yilan.
Public transportation is minimal here so the best way is to rent a motorbike and go around the lovely countryside.
I didn’t manage to rent one and hence, only managed a simple stroll around the main city square. Still really lovely!
Plus my sore leg muscles were thankful for some down time.
World Map in the hostel. So many places I want to go. 
Morning light. Yilan, you are quite lovely I must say – Till next time 🙂
CITY 3 : HUALIEN / TAROKE GORGE
I arrived pretty early from Yilan, way before the hostel check in time and decided to explore Hualien’s pretty surroundings. Threw my backpack down, got on the bicycle that the hostel lends out for free and off I went exploring.
Qixingtan/Pebble Beach
Gorgeous day , gorgeous sights.
20 minutes on the bicycle and I arrived at the popular Qi Xing Tan / Pebble beach. 
Too beautiful. Walked around, chatted with the locals and enjoyed a lazy afternoon here.
Taroke Gorge
Got up bright and early for the popular Taroke Gorge. Again, if you could rent a motorbike and DIY the trip yourself, it would be a lot more flexible.
Otherwise, you could take a bus in. 
I went for the latter option and was dropped off at Tian Xiang, the last stop where I decided to stay for a night to experience the night sky, stars, peace and fresh air.
I stayed at the catholic church which is run by the indigenous people of Taiwan. Great views but nothing fancy. Good enough for the non-fussy and the budget travelers 🙂
Met this friendly lady at the hostel and continued exploring the gorge with her the next day.
I looked back on past travel pictures to different countries and came to one conclusion – I really dress like a hobo homeless on all my travels.
Hey, on the bright side, I don’t look like a target for robbery.
Cooling off after a sweaty hike.
If you have been to massive national parks, Taroke Gorge might be a bit underwhelming especially with the hype around it. However, the friendly locals make up for it. I find myself feeling more of this on this trip – although the scenery in Taiwan is on a smaller scale, it has a quiet beauty to it, and the very friendly and welcoming locals make a whole of positive difference to the experience.
CITY 4 : TAITUNG
Next up with Taitung, further south along the coast of Taiwan.
It was the international hot air balloon festival here, hence, all the hot air balloon decoration.
View of Taitung city from the top of a park. Too pretty!
East China sea in the far distance
Hot air balloon crafts come alive at night!
Loved this one
Strolled along Taitung’s countryside the next morning.
East coat of Taiwan has a pretty calm to it.
A girl I met at the hostel in Hualien was telling me about the hot air balloon festival and I decided to take the bus out to the Liye getai platform to check it out.
Boy I am glad I went! The real beauty of Taitung actually lies outside the city !
Sprawling Valley of Liye Platform – how grand!
Paragliders
But first, let me take a mefie 🙂
A father waving to his other son on the hot air balloon.
Great way to end the evening! Till next time Taitung, & I loved how you surprised me with your beautiful outskirts!
CITY 5 : KAOSHIUNG
Next up was Kaoshiung, the 2nd biggest city after Taipei, located in the south of Taiwan.
Compared to Taipei, Kaoshiung is more laid back. People are friendlier, it feels less rushed, things are cheaper, buildings are spaced further apart and they have the view of south china sea.
Formosa Boulevard Station
Formosa Boulevard – popular for their colourful interior.
Elements of water, fire and earth sprawled across their ceiling.
National Sun Yat Sen University
Enjoyed my morning stroll around National Sun Yat Sen University. What a lovely campus, surrounded by natural beauty – Shou Shan hill behind and the sea in front.
Breeze in my hair, I walked around happily, recalling all the Taiwanese movies (which all seemed to mostly central around on college life, growing up and nostalgia for the innocent, free younger days) I’ve watched, imagining what it is like to study here.
Sat on the steps and munched on my packed lunch, couldn’t really ask for more – Warm breeze, scenery and my thoughts.
Walk around the British Consulate and you will find a canal with yachts lined up. Pretty sight!
Worth spending a few hours in this area 🙂
Love River
Strolled down love river in the late afternoon before the rain started pissing down. Apparently it’s nicer to visit this area at night when the lights come on, but I enjoyed it enough in the day, seeing the little hills in the far distance.
First time seeing a domestic cat with leopard prints! I wonder if they did some gene mutation, or perhaps I am just an ignorant city pumpkin 😉
CITY 6 : CHIAYI / ALISHAN
After Kaoshiung, I continued on to Alishan.
I wasn’t expecting too much for Alishan, after visiting the much talked about Taroke gorge and felt slightly let down.
Maybe it was hyped up too much, hence, I decided Alishan might be hyped up as well. But it pleasantly exceeded whatever I imagined Alishan to be.
To get there, I took the local public bus near the bus stop located just outside Chiayi station (Chiayi is the township where Alishan is located / The bus fare was about NT300 one way and if you use your yoyo card, there will be a slight discount)
Elderly local folks will start coming at you once you arrive at the bus stop, asking you to take their private cars/vans instead.
My heart really went out to them, seeing them do what they do at an age where they should be enjoying the retired life.
I probably was thinking of my 85 years old grandma and my heart winced at the thought of her working, in any kind of job.
Made me think a lot of their past, them being born in the era of war and its aftermath, little education especially for females and just having to do whatever they could to survive. It may be their choice to work now, probably bored at home, or they really do still have to work at their age to make ends meet, I do not know.
Really am grateful to be born in a more privileged generation.
If you are travelling in a group, it might be worth taking a private transfer, adding up to be about the same cost as taking the bus and you would be helping the local ladies and their families.
The bus will climb up the rolling mountains continuously for 2.5 hours, stopping at small towns to let passengers off. You will also see many plantations with mighty mountains as the back drop in the far distance. It was beautiful.
Alishan national park was the last stop and the first thing that hit me was how fresh and crisp the air was up here! Oh how I miss this air!
The weather is a lot cooler and will require a few more layers of clothes, even in summer.
The bus will drop you off at the last stop – at the bus station/ waiting area outside the national park where you will need to walk in for about 5-10 minutes (Super easy with only 1 path), store your luggage for free with their visitor centre inside the national park (If you do have one with you), buy your entrance ticket and off you go!
Entrance of the national park. Fog setting in slowly.
Alishan has a clear pathway so it’s pretty easy to get around.
After walking for about 15 minutes, you will hit a junction where you could choose to continue left, or right. It all leads back to this junction and just depends on what you want to see first.
My favourite area was the section near Zhaoping station, so much so I went back twice. The second time to enjoy it for a bit more and to breathe all that fresh air in. (Go right after hitting the junction if you want to visit this area first).
I was lucky to not meet any tourists while being there and had the whole place to myself for a bit.
I remember walking down this platform, fully embracing the fog, mist, green pine cone trees and all the whiteness filling up the other spaces with my whole being.
It was absolutely serene, so peaceful and all I could do was really to just stand there, eyes closed and feel it all on my skin.
If you came on a clearer day with less fog, you will be treated to the mighty mountains in the far distance. A popular spot to also catch the sunrise they say.
Although all I had was fog, I thought it made the whole atmosphere rather special. I loved it.
Other tourists started to flow in and I left for the next spot.
If you prefer to take the train instead of walking, you could as well.
It used to be the train which transported cedar logs during the war, I can imagine it would be quite nice to ride in this.
I felt like I had walked into a magical garden, squirrels running around and all.
Sister pond – another stop along the way. Clouds of fog started to roll in shortly after this photo was taken. It was amazing seeing the ‘white candy floss’ literally float down and slowly set in, shrouding me in it as well.
Take it all in girl, take it all in.
Especially the fresh crisp air, which is rare in most parts of the warm and humid South East Asia, where I currently reside.
Went back to the Zhaoping area, so foggy. I loved it.
I had to leave and catch the last bus out. It started to pour as I left, great timing!
If you can afford it, staying a night in the natural reserve or somewhere near it would be amazing. Night sky, stars, cold air and catching the sunrise the next morning without all the other tourists would be quite a spectacular experience.
I alighted the bus after an hour to a small town along the way in the mountains and stayed at an Air B&B for the night.
The private room, with an attached bathroom, I had was basic which I was fine with, I found a bug and a millipede/centipede on my bed which I was fine with as well, but it was the bathroom that made me wonder if I should fork out a bit more and stay elsewhere.
At USD24 per night, by Taiwan standards, it was double the amount I paid for the previous hostels along the way, which were so much cleaner.
Plus, I pride myself in being able to slum it out, but this bathroom really grossed me out. Moldy, falling apart, black grout between old tiles – oh my vegetables!
Do not recommend if you have a thing against dirty toilets ! Clearly I do. Note to self for future reference.
The saving grace was the view the morning after. I woke up to this! What a beauty.
I started to hike up the mountain behind and came to this vegetable plantation.
Lovely way to start the day. There were some eateries around on my hike up the mountain, great to end the hike with some Taiwanese morning yummies.
Took the next bus down back to Chiayi and continued on to Sun Moon Lake.
CITY 7: SUN MOON LAKE
Heard about this place for years, seen it in countless TV ads and finally I am here! Afternoon hike up Maolan Mountain – quite a hike up but totally worth the view 🙂
I chatted with a friendly local family along the way up. I was amazed that they were carrying sleeping toddlers on their backs, up a steep mountain. It was their weekly hike / exercise, they say.
Much respect, I found it tiring to carry myself up and can’t imagine having to carry another 7kg on my back.
The heavens must have known my heartfelt terror of the accommodation the night before and blessed me with an entire room to myself for the next 2 days (I was supposed to share it with 3 other girls but they never showed up, yay!).
It was clean, in fact it was super clean, had a balcony and a beautiful clean toilet – what more can this girl ask for.
I decided to eat in that night to enjoy the room, the peace and quietness – not commonly found in hostel dorms.
Rented a bicycle (Bike shops can be found everywhere in the town area) and cycled around Sun Moon Lake bright and early the next day.
After a cycle up hill for about half an hour, I arrived at Chung Tai Chang Monastery.
1000 wishes on the staircase.
Prayers for peace, safety.
I guess ultimately, most humans – whatever colour we are or culture we come from, we all want the same thing. So why so much hate and war?
Cycled a bit more around the huge lake and caught the sunset at the end.
CITY 8 : TAICHUNG
Last city in my 3 weeks trip was Taichung.
Another bustling city and the gem I found was the Rainbow Village.
It started when the government wanted to take a particular plot of land back and one of the local, a grandpa, decided to start painting the houses to protest against this.
With no art background, he simply picked up his paintbrush, dipped it in buckets of vivid paints and started drawing.
It drew the attention of some locals who then posted it to social media and the place became famous overnight.
In the end, the government decided to preserve this place, tourists started to flock to this little “village” and it is now an inspiring place to visit.
I had read reviews about it being just a small area with a few small short blocks – basically not worth visiting. I decided to still make a trip there and boy, I am glad I went.
Taking the local bus from the train station, I arrived there after about 45 minutes.
The bus driver was so friendly and helpful which I really appreciated, making sure I alighted at the right stop, knew how to get to the village and even advised me on the route to get back to the city centre.
When I got there, I was blown away by the vivid colours and the child like paintings. How did a 85 year old grandpa, with no background in art, manage to do all of these by himself? What inspired him? Why the child like paintings? What did it all mean?
I can’t even draw a decent cat. This is talent, much.
Love the bright contrasting colours found on each wall
I sat here for a while, taking it all in. Felt so inspired, amazed by the creativity here, and wondered how I could use these inspirations for my own work. Definitely worth a visit even if it’s just for an hour or two, I say.
From Taichung, I took the bus back to Taipei , spent another day there before flying off to Coron, Philippines.
What a great three weeks it was, wonderful scenery and lots of time to regroup again.
All in all, if you have experienced bigger, more massive scenery (mountains, lakes, oceans and the list goes on), Taiwan may disappoint a little.
However the friendliness of the locals and the quiet beauty of the country (especially outside Taipei/cities) will slowly steal your heart away. Give it time.
Afterall, good things usually have to be slowly unraveled, discovered, savored.
Till the next time, stay gold 🙂
Wild Heart, Play Free 
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