Got a bit busy these days in eating lots of delicious food, flying, packing and all that jazz… but here I am writing again about the last part of my December trip: Taiwan.

Why did I chose to go to Taiwan? It was very cheap from Hong Kong, plus I’ve never been there before. With Hong Kong Airlines it only cost about 80 USD, direct flight. Frankly speaking I didn’t even study the guides or read about Taiwan nowadays: I only knew part of its history and the political relations with Mainland China. So, I didn’t know what to expect from that island.

Let’s go with the flow! (I love it when everything is so unplanned)

I started my trip to Taiwan by staying in Taipei, the capital city. All was favourable to me: weather was pretty good, not raining, a working subway system, bicycles around the city and mountains and green to smell some nature. Ah, BIRDS were singing all the time! Little but important detail.

Where did I end up in Taipei?

First I met a taiwanese guy from Couchsurfing that helped me to explore the city and explain the different sites. The nice thing of finding local people to show you around is that you get to know things that you can’t find in the guides… 😉

As a first spot we went hiking the “Elephant Mountain” to see this view of the city, with the tower as the main point:

Some other spots that I found very attractive and not so many tourist know about are up in the north of the city: Along the river you can find lots of typical food and street shops that sell you anything for a very cheap price. As a plus, you can also rent a small boat if you want to have a relaxing time on the river itself.

The best cultural spot for me in town was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Simply majestic:

(I took a photo of my best travel companion, my baggage Milly!) 🙂

If you ever will travel to China or Taiwan, go to meet some old and wise men around the cities and villages and learn about the way how they write, impossible to explain in few words here:

After spending two days in Taipei I decided to adventure myself and go towards Hualien County and visit the National Park.

As a tip before going there: it’s easy to go around for me as I can speak a bit of mandarin, but Taiwanese in general, especially outside Taipei, can’t speak english, so be ready to help yourself with gestures or google vocabulary (though it’s not that reliable sometimes!).

Hualien County: Coastline & beach side

Taroko National Park: from Hualien bus/train station buses leave every 20 minutes to reach Taroko Park. Price includes a round trip ticket and the entrance to the park.

The “Golden Gate” of Taiwan:  🙂

Dare to run over there?! It’s awesome!

And that was the end of my trip from Colombo, Sri Lanka to China (Mainland & Taiwan) in 9 days.

The world is awesome! Go and explore as much as you can!

Love,

Feddy