Taiwan 2008 (I)

Around Formosa in 8 Days. Pant pant...

This was my first big break in 2008 - a guided tour under ASA with my parents and wife. Although this is my third visit to Taiwan, but never had I visited the whole island. This 8 day tour sure gave me a good idea on what it's like in different parts of Taiwan. The only pity is that we did not go Alishan.

Major Sights:

Taipei - Chiufen (九份)

A former gold mining town in Taipei county since the Japanese Occupation. However, it was much publicised after the filming of the famous "City of Sadness". But for us, the biggest attraction about this place is the food (which I'll talk about in the food segment).

Entrance to Chiufen

The shopping street

The view of Chiufen

Yilan - National Centre for Traditional Arts

This is an exhibition centre that houses displays of traditional Taiwanese art such as music, dance, acrobatics, dramas and puppets. There is also a museum depicting in detail the Taoism customs and practices in Taiwan. Personally, I find this place boring, unless you're really into Taoism.

The surrounding 'fort'

Making of 'mai ya tang'

Street 'wayang' performances

Hualien - Nanbin Night Market

Only one word to describe this place - pathetic. It is not a foodie place but more of pasar malam type of game arcade. There was a stall selling handmade bags and accessories. Very few people, and not many stalls too when compared to a typical Taiwanese night markets. I wonder why this is on the itinerary.

Hualien - Taroko Gorge
A famous gorge carved out from marble. In fact, Hualien is a place where marbles are found in abundance. Even most of the street pavements are decorated with marble stones. Anyway, Taroko gorge is a refreshing point, away from crowds and bustling cities. Calm, serene and basically, a a natural respite for all.

Taitung - Chulu Ranch
This is probably the coldest spot during this 8-day tour. Chulu Ranch is located up on the hills, amongst the highlands in Taitung. Cold is an understatement. I guess temperature was below 17 degree Celsius. I couldn't function properly: brain freeze, painful hands, frequent 'high tides'. The only thing I want to do was to look for a sheltered place to escape the cold. Bbrrrr....

We got to feed the cows too. They seemed to be hungry every second. Boy, their tongues are sure long, shooting out to literally 'grab' the grasses which were handed by us.

We stayed at a hot spring resort in Taitung. Not too crowded and I think we were the only ones from our tour group to enjoy this facility.

Pingdong / Kenting - Maobitou, Sail Rock and Eluanbi Lighthouse
Maobitou means 'Cat Nose'. It is actually a coastal rock formation which resembles a crouching cat. Sail Rock - yes another rock formation resembling a sail. I find this quite 'duh'. -_-"

Eluanbi Lighthouse was built during the Qing Dynasty while still fending off attacks by aborigines. Although it is found on Chinese soils, this structure looks very European as it was constructed by a British (if I remember correctly) engineer employed by Imperial China.

Kenting

We checked in to Howard Beach Resort upon arrival at Kenting. The place is very much like Gold Coast, minus Caucasians and air-conditioned shopping malls. Not to mention that the resort itself has excellent facilities - retail shops, arcade, bowling alley, squash courts, swimming pools. The atmosphere there is really relaxing and does put one in a holiday mood. Besides the huge rooms, the resort is also near the beach where we can catch sunrises in the mornings (that is if you're hardworking enough to wake up at 5 plus in the morning).The resort is situated near their main shopping street too.

Kaohsiung - Fo Guang Shan Monastery

This former mountain-top bamboo monastery is one of the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. It is also internationally recognised site of pilgrimage. The organisation is so large that they even have their own private TV network where Buddhism stuffs are broadcasted to the whole island.

Kaohsiung - Dream Mall

This is just a super mega mall. The newest and biggest in Kaohsiung. This is also where I found a new series of Transformers Gen 1 figurines!Kaohsiung - Kaohsiung 85 Tower

Their version of Taipei 101 in Kaohsiung. A super fast lift that brings you up to the 77th floor where you can have a bird's eye view of Kaohsiung city. Once you've been up this, there is no need to go Taipei 101, which happens to be much more expensive too for the same experience.

Kaohsiung - Love River

This is like our Kallang River. Romantic? Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Nantou - Sun Moon Lake

The biggest freshwater lake in Taiwan. Why is it called Sun Moon Lake? It used to be called Ming （明）Lake. But some Caucasian visitor then wrote the name wrongly by splitting up the Ming into Ri （日）and Yue （月）which means Sun and Moon. Thus it became known as Sun Moon Lake. -_-"

Taichung - Wenwu Temple

A temple dedicated to Confucius and Guangdi. From there, you can have a perfect view of Sun Moon Lake. Interesting thing is they have a 'Divine Lot' vending machine. Just toss NT$10 coin into it and the machine will give you a lot.

Taichung - Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village

A theme park with coaster rides, aboriginal cultural displays and performances. Quite a fun place to spend a day with your family there. The only problem was we did not have enough time to tour the place properly. Again, strange enough we're the only ones who tried the rides among our tour group members.

Hsinchu - Chenghuang Temple
A temple by a road junction, surrounded by many local street side eateries. Nothing much really.

Taoyuan - High Speed Rail
This is their version of the bullet train. As part of our itinerary, there is this 20 min ride from Taoyuan to Taipei. I think its maximum speed is 250km/h. It is a wonderful infrastructure which connects northern Taipei with southern Kaohsiung, basically linking up western Taiwan.

Taipei - Taipei 101 World Building

This is my 2nd visit to Taipei 101. Again, I did not go up since it is quite no point to pay NT$400 to experience something which I can get cheaper at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi building or Kaohsiung 85 Tower. I can buy alot of stuffs at the Night Markets with NT$400.

I'll talk about the food in a separate post. ;)