I admit it, although I always listed Taiwan in my head as a place I could visit, it never made it on my “must see on my next trip” list.
But let me back up for a moment…
I can’t believe how fast the time has been flying while on this trip. After leaving the Maluku region, we flew to Jakarta and then Kuala Lumpur for a few days each. It was nice reset to be in the city and have limitless choices on food. Then last Tuesday we flew to Taiwan to meet up with our friends Claire and Joe from Canada. We only managed to visit Taipei and Kenting since our trip was quite short.
Taiwan has always been a country that I have been interested in visiting. However, it never sparked me enough to be on my immediate “must visit” list. Since our friends were travelling for only 1 week, it was logical for us to fly to them. It provided a great opportunity to see a new country, and this country actually ended up being the 30th country that I have visited!
Of course, while visiting my 30th country, I also had to visit the 10th tallest building in the world, Taipei 101
Before arriving, I will admit that I knew very little about Taiwan. I lived in China for just under 1 year, so I imagined a democratic version of China. Although I was right about Taiwan being very democratic, I would not say it is a lot like China.
Taiwan is the clean and easy version of China. Everyone speaks just enough English that you can navigate with ease. I lived in Beijing where the majority of individuals couldn’t manage 1 word in English. This is fine, of course! I mean, we travelled to a different country so it is naïve to assume that everyone can speak English. However, with just a bit of English, it really does make it easier to enjoy a new country.
The scenery and environment in Taiwan are lovely. There is no pollution and everything just seems to work. The Taiwanese are so nice too! We are glad that we decided to take an unplanned and unexpected trip to Taiwan.
So, why should you place Taiwan high up on your “must visit” list?
1. Beautiful Beaches
I know, when you think of Taiwan, your first thought is not about the beautiful beaches that they have. However, Taiwan has a real surfer/beach town called Kenting. Kenting is like the California of Asia, with surfer shops and floaties scattered throughout.
There are quite a few beaches situated in Kenting. We were staying at Yoyo Resort (悠遊旅店), which is near South Bay (樂活南灣遊憩區), a small nice beach with restaurants. We visited this beach for breakfast at Three Fools (三個傻瓜咖啡廳南灣店) and enjoyed nice beach views and watching hundreds of tourists arrive at the beach, play volleyball, not go into the water, and then leave. I guess going into the water is not a priority for this busload of tourists.
For swimming and renting tubes as well as motorized equipment, we really liked White Sand Bay (墾丁白沙灣海灘 Baisha), which is also known as Baisha Beach. Here you have a long sand strip with the availability of renting a banana boat, jet ski, plus much more. Claire and I decided to rent a double tube and float around a bit. Daniel tried to go snorkelling, but after the amazing success in Indonesia, there, unfortunately, wasn’t much to see. So, don’t trust that “fish picture” on the tourist map, since you won’t see much fish here. Us 4 spent a lot of time just floating around and enjoying the gentle waves. This was also a lovely place to watch the sunset on the southern tip of Taiwan.
View of Baisha Beach and Joe and Danne acting like grown-ups
One morning, we head off to Gangkou Beach (港口海灘) to enjoy some more advanced waves. Joe and Daniel rented surfboards from a local vendor and Claire and I had body boards from our hotel. The waves here were really high and it was only Danne that seemed to have some success enjoying surfing. Claire and I spent most of our time lying on our body boards in the dirty river water that feeds into the ocean. So maybe it is not the best way to enjoy the ocean if you’re not a confident surfer? However, we were all happy for Daniel enjoying his morning.
2. Awesome Nature
I think the most shocking distinction between China and Taiwan is the difference in nature. I know that China has lots of beautiful spots to visit, but unfortunately, during my 1-year stint, I mainly stayed in the cities. In Taiwan, there was beautiful scenery everywhere, even just right outside the city centres.
Views while walking around Kenting National Park and being excited to be reunited
We really enjoyed Kenting National Park and spent quite a few hours there. I will admit that a huge draw for us was to see monkeys since Claire and Joe didn’t see any on their past trip to Taiwan. Kenting National Park did not disappoint and there were many macaques at one part of the park. Daniel and I have been a bit numbed by macaques since we have seen so many on this backpacking trip. The macaques that you typically see in Asia are aggressive and always seem like they want to bite or steal from tourists.
However, the macaques in Taiwan were so sweet. Their faces were fluffier and there were truly wild. They didn’t come very close to us and preferred their safety in the trees. I really appreciated this since macaques can sometimes feel like big rats in Asia and it was nice to see monkeys in their real natural element, being cautious of humans. It was also great to see how excited Claire was to finally meet monkeys.
Although monkeys are obviously the coolest, we did get to see some other cool life!
Kenting National Park was really pretty and offers some easy walking trails to some great views as well as lots of flora to look at. I really liked seeing the Frog Stone from way up here. There are some natural caves here, but only 1 of them was open while we visited.
Walking through natural formations and a group picture at the top of the observation tower
As I wrote before, I really loved that you could experience nature right outside of the city. Directly outside of Taipei (and easily assessable by public transportation), there is a hike up Elephant Mountain aka Xiangshan Mountain (象山親山步道). We didn’t have time to do this, but we did have lunch and traditional tea in MaoKong (貓空). Here you get to drink delicious tea and get views of the entire city. We rented a car, so we drove all the way to the top. However, there is a gondola all the way to Maokong Station that Claire has done and says gives some amazing views of the scenery. So, maybe we can take this on our next trip to Taipei?
We also got some great views when we went up Taipei 101. I would recommend doing this on a trip to Taipei since you really get a 360-degree view of the city.
3. Big Buddha
Must I really write more? I love Big Buddhas and I cannot lie (I stole this line from my friend Amanda).
But honestly, I do love big statues and I think Buddhism is really interesting. Us 4 stopped at Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum (佛光山佛陀紀念館) on our way from Kenting to Taipei. There is a huge statue of Buddha here and a lot of pagodas to walk around in. I can say that none of us were prepared that a Starbucks would be available in the main lobby.
We got to look around at the different pagodas
Once entering the main lobby, you walk down a big stretch with the Buddha and pagodas at the end. It was really easy to walk around and we ended up taking some great (may I say majestic?) shots. So, bring a good camera if you have one. Or use your iPhone and filter the shit out of it (like me!).
At the end of the stretch, you get a text passage, which you can transcribe yourself. You do a bit of meditation first and then write out the passage. It is always cool to have a little memento from travelling.
4. Nice People
The Taiwanese people are so incredibly nice! If they are struggling with English, they will apologize to you, which is a bit ridiculous since we are travelling in their country.
I also felt beyond safe in Taiwan. Petty theft is quite common in Mainland China. Both Danne and I have had iPhones stolen from us when we lived in Beijing. However, I got the general feeling that petty theft is not a common incurrence in Taiwan. It does make sense since Taiwan is a very successful country, but it was still a bit of a relief not having to frantically have 100% knowledge over the location of every single one of my belongings at all times. However, I am always diligent while travelling.
I found that the knowledge of English in Taiwan was quite okay. The people who worked in tourism were really good; however, we did eat at restaurants where no one spoke English and the menu provided no translations. So, I would recommend having a SIM card while travelling in Taiwan and use Google Translate.
5. Easy Transportation
Taiwan is so easy to travel around in! We flew into Taipei and had to catch a train to Kaohsiung the next day to meet up with Claire and Joe before heading to Kenting. There are 2 train systems in Taiwan: Taiwan High Speed Rail (高铁) and Taiwan Railway Administration (火車 or 台铁). So, basically a fast train and a slow train. The fast train is double the price, but significantly shorter. However, we opted for the slow train since we were not in a rush and wanted to save some money. There is no wifi on the slow train so I would have been so bored without a book.
The whole country is assessable by train, so it is really easy to get around if you are unable or don’t want to drive here.
Read this great blog post about getting around in Taiwan, if you are planning a trip there!
Joe has driven in Taiwan before, so they rented a car and he was our driver. I always prefer driving compared to train travel, since I love taking unplanned stops for snacks along the way. So, it was really lucky that he was so confident driving here since the rules are a bit messy and I felt like the Italian in Joe came out in his driving (in a good way).
All websites will state that you must have an international driving license to rent a car in Taiwan. Joe accidentally forgot this and the rest of us didn’t have one, so they were a bit nervous about renting a car since they arrived in Taiwan a few days before us. Every single blog out there will state that you cannot rent a car without this flimsy piece of paper. Luckily for us, they didn’t even ask Joe for it and he rented the car with his Canadian license. This is just another reason why I love Asia. Are there really hard and fast rules for stuff?
6. Delicious Food
To preface, this was Joe’s famous quote during this trip: “In Taiwan, food is always the endgame”.
This is something that I can 100% identify with since food is always my endgame too. I have a hard time identifying with other people that don’t plan their entire travels around when they’re going to eat next. My travelling pattern is basically already knowing where I want to eat and checking the sightseeing around that spot.
I really liked the food culture in Taiwan. There was so much variation and lots of the food products were extremely fresh. However, the prices were not always ideal compared to where we have been in South East Asia. I will highlight some of the things that I loved!
Dumplings
Dumplings are delicious! It is just a fact. We had really great dumplings in Kenting at 鼎食芳, which I later found out has a very high rating by locals. It looked like a hole-in-the-wall but it had great dumplings.
We also had dumplings in Taipei at Din Tai Fung Taipei 101 Restaurant 鼎泰豐, which is (surprise!) located within Taipei 101. So, this place is a handy place to eat while visiting the observatory deck. However waiting lists can be up to 90 minutes, so plan time to wait to get a table.
The dumplings we had were fresh and very tasty. I have no complains here. They also catered to vegetarians, which was great! However, I am always a bigger fan of the meat fillings.
Snacks at 7/11
Eating at 7/11 in the western world is a big no-no! However, in Asia, 7/11 is pure gold. I will admit, I was a bit hesitant to pick out an entire lunch feast there. However, with their selection of bao to choose from, I was one happy camper. Thankfully, all the baos at the 7/11 we went to had pork in them, so I was free from eating a suspicious fish-filled bao. Claire really liked the sushi triangles (called onigiri) that have a filling with rice wrapped in seaweed. This also comes in various flavours, but her favourite was the tuna mayo one. Some of the snacks at 7/11 were very strange (more on that later) so you may need to spend some minutes deciding what is safe to eat.
Street Food
We enjoyed looking around and tasting different things at the Kenting Night Market. This street market was huge and had stalls to appease even picky eaters like me. Since it is on a shopping street, there were also lots of cute stores to pick up some knick-knacks. Claire bought a llama pen, which I 100% think is something you should do too.
There were many different stalls at the Kenting Night Market
All You Can Eat Hotpot
If you are in the mood for eating 1 huge meal, and then not really needing dinner since you’ll still be stuffed, this is a great option. It isn’t the cheapest option, but it ended up being a great idea for us. We had our free breakfast at our hostel and then headed to see the new Fantastic Beasts movie around lunchtime. By the time the movie was over, we were starving and it was an awkward time to eat. We searched around to a few all you can eat places since there are many in Taipei.
We chose one that had a great selection of meats and veggies, as well as all you can drink beer and soda. However, what really drew me in was the dessert section. There was a choice of any fruit you could be craving, many types of cakes, and a great selection of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. It is with very little regret that I admit that I had 5 bowls of ice cream. I can’t say a lot more than it was amazing.
Amazing Things to Drink
First, let’s talk about the popular phenomenon of bubble tea which originated in Taiwan. Danne and I are not huge fans of bubble tea, but I can appreciate the trend and I do love the number of stalls scattered throughout. I also liked that you could choose how sweet and how much ice should be added.
The authentic tea, which we enjoyed at Big Tea Pot (阿義師的大茶壺茶餐廳) while visiting MaoKong was delicious. I really enjoyed the process of using whole leaves for tea and reusing the same leaves over 10 times while still getting great quality tea. Since Joe and Claire have already been to Taiwan, they were tea connoisseurs and knew all the tricks of brewing a good Taiwanese tea.
In Kenting, we had yummy smoothies at Kuma. They had a lot of choices and I have read a few blogs raving about them. So, it wasn’t just us that really enjoyed their smoothies.
7. Many Reasons to Laugh
I love travelling in Asia since it is usually quite cheap, full of culture, and there is always a lot to do. I also love travelling in Asia since it is so different than Canada and Sweden that I end up laughing several times per day about how wonky something is.
When something does not make sense, I have learned to embrace it and laugh. Here are some things that I happened to love/laugh at while in Taiwan.
In our hotel in Kenting, our friends’ room had a curtain and beyond that curtain there was…a fake wall. Yes, a fake wall. This was quite a nice hotel too, so we found it hilarious.
Another example is when we went to go see the Big Buddha. You know, you are feeling the appreciation of another country’s culture. As I mentioned, I even got to meditate quickly while there. However, right in the main entry hall, there is a Starbucks. I know us foreigners go a little bit nuts over Starbucks, but is it really that popular that it is at a religious site? Apparently, yes.
I love eating different types of Asian food; however, I will admit that I am too weak to enjoy some of the common 7/11 snacks found in Taiwan. Claire and Joe had this game where they would pick strange snacks for each other and then try it. They did all of this while filming and rating the other’s reaction. Of course, Danne and I had to play as well. I got off very easily, which was very good.
I guess the stakes were high when Daniel and I joined as well since there were a lot of disgusting things to choose from. There was a sour milk drink that Joe and I thought tasted like puke but Clare and Daniel enjoyed way too much. There was a bag that was filled with what appeared to be hickory stick-like objects. It was fish, like fishy-garbage sticks. Another food item was a compressed bluish egg soaked in sauce. It was not well received. Oh yeah, and then there was asparagus juice, which actually tasted a lot like what I imagine corn juice to taste like. Why would someone want to drink the juice of asparagus? I just can’t wrap my mind around it.
We did have one very excellent surprise and that was when Daniel and I went to see the Crimes of Grindelwald in Taipei. Once Claire and Joe left to fly back to Canada, I was desperate to watch the film. We bought tickets for a matinee hoping that our experience would be different than the time I watched Catching Fire in Beijing. Movie theatres in Beijing are the worst. People actually answer their cell phones and talk on the phone. I remember it took all the restraint I had to not throw popcorn at these people. Taiwan was a different story. When the trailers started playing, everyone was dead silent. I suddenly realized it was only Danne and me whispering about the movie trailers. Did I mention that people in Taiwan are nice? Now, we learned that they are also very respectful.
Well, those are my thoughts about Taiwan. We definitely want to travel there again since there is so much to explore!
Have you been to Taiwan? What should I do the next time I visit?
xx
Jasmine
Photo credit: Some pictures were taken by the wonderful photographers, Claire and Joe!
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