This post is more about providing a bit of information about Taiwan for anyone who'd like to know. I think it has a bit of a bad rep - the only thing people said when I was coming here was "at least you'll get loads of cheap crap". The information I could find before I got here was sketchy at best and didn't really give me an accurate picture of the place I was about to move to.
So, in a way I'm trying to right the wrongs against my current home!
We've done a fair amount of touristy things in the time we've been here but probably haven't seen as much as we could (and maybe should have). It's always hard to act like a tourist and get stuff done when you're living in a place for a relatively long period of time.
Our travel books describe Taiwan as the "hidden gem of South East Asia" and that probably isn't too far wide of the mark, even if it does sounds cheesy. The country has much less tourists than places like Malaysia and Thailand but it really does have a lot to offer. I think the problem is that it is harder to get to than either of those places because it's an island.
The obvious attraction is Taipei because it is the capital. Being a city of 9,000,000 there is obviously plenty to do. We've been there for four full weekends so far plus a few day trips but we've barely scratched the surface of all the attractions. The main place that attracts foreigners is Taipei 101, formerly the tallest building in the world and currently number two behind some gigantic yoke in Dubai. It is really impressive, I have to say. Apparently it's designed to look like a giant piece of bamboo and it is really cool looking.
It completely dwarfs the buildings around it. Taipei isn't a city like New York in that it doesn't have skyscrapers everywhere you look. The buildings in New York became so tall as a result of natural development. Taipei 101 isn't like that. Basically, someone decided that Taipei had loads of money and they wanted to have the tallest building in the world so they just built it. Simple as. They are obsessed with technology and Taipei 101 shows this off perfectly - it has the fastest elevator in the world and some sort of super groundbreaking damper system to stop the building from swaying.
It is cool though. Taipei is a really impressive city in general. You can see that it's a place which has modernized very quickly. There is a unique blend of old world traditions like the Shilin Nightmarket and Longshan Temple, along with the super modern things like the MRT which you use to get to these places and which even has stops named after them. Loads of the buildings are modern and would fit in any big city but it also hasn't lost its identity because there is so much of the old world still apparent on every street.
The other deadly thing we did in Taipei was going to the zoo. It's probably no better than other zoos around the world but it's definitely better than Dublin Zoo and it only costs just over a Euro to get in. Plus, it has a Panda which you can see for free (I've actually since figured out that you have to pay extra but we somehow got in for free - sweet!). It has all the different continental areas and a good few animals we'd never heard of before. It was just a deadly place. Plus, there was a gondola beside it that brought you to the top of a mountain overlooking the city and surrounded by tea plantations. It was packed at the top but still a really different kind of city experience.
We went up there again last weekend and went into one of the tea plantations. You buy a bag of tea and they show you the traditional way of brewing the tea. Then you sit and drink really nice tea (different from Barry's - no milk) in a really quiet place overlooking the city. It's a really good experience and I'd highly recommend it to anyone.
Taipei also has the International Flora Expo at the moment, which is a really big international event and moves to different countries each year. It was massive and again only cost about a tenner in. We got to go for free with our school but we were going to go ourselves anyway. There was gardens from loads of different countries, an exotic plants area and other historical stuff incorporated into the show. Over 3.5 million people have been to it already and it's less than halfway through its run.
One of the major positive for Taiwan is that if you come here at the right time of year, the weather is pretty class all over the island. When we arrived in September it was over 30 degrees and while it has been a bit cold in our town over the winter, that's not reflected all over the island. We went down to Kenting National Park at the very south of the island at the end of December and the weather was really, really good.
It was mid 20's temperature wise and the sun was shining all day long. The area itself has loads to do for tourists: the beaches are really nice and offer all the watersports you'd expect to find; it has good hiking in the park itself; decent nightlife (even during low, low season there was still a good few people around); loads of accommodation from hostels up to top class hotels; and a really good variety of good places to eat.
We're really glad we go to go there because it had so much to do and was just a really good place to have a relaxing few days. Apparently it's called Little Thailand or something and it's a deserved nickname. I'd say it is brilliant craic during the summer because there was even a lot of foreigners around when we went.
Another thing we did recently was going strawberry picking in Dahu. It's strawberry season at the moment so our school brought us on a day trip there and it was really good fun. They have a big strawberry museum and loads of different strawberry themed things to do, like eating a strawberry sausage and buying all sorts of strawberry related merchandise. They have strawberry beer and wine too. The strawberries we picked were actually delicious as well, so that made it even more fun! It was mad busy though and, just like the rest of Taiwan, there was people EVERYWHERE.
That's the one annoying thing here - it's so densely populated that everywhere you go there is people. You have to go very far into the country to get proper peace and quiet but those areas are beautiful though.
We've been on a good few day trips but I think our favorite city so far has been Taichung. We went there before Christmas and there was a proper Christmas spirit around which was really different to other parts of the country we'd been in. (We were in Kenting on St. Stephen's Day and you wouldn't know anything had happened - it was just weird.) It just seemed like a much younger city than anywhere else we had been. It was still a big city but it had loads of nice parks and green areas so it felt much nicer. There's also a bit of nightlife there - much more than Jhunan obviously.
Other than the places we've been there's also loads of stuff we haven't been able to get to yet . The stuff we want to do before we leave include staying in a hot spring hotel (these places have hot spring water in the bath in your room!), visiting Sun Moon Lake (a freshwater lake about 750m above sea level), museums in Taipei (one of them has the largest collection of Chinese artefacts in the world, including China), try see the sunrise form Mount Ali and go surfing at our own beach in Jhunan. Other stuff we won't get to do is pretty numerous.
There's a place called Hualien that is really famous for white water rafting There is also Taroko National Park and Taroko Gorge but they're too far away to get to before we go. Then there is Keelung and Tamshui which are really famous for their seafood. As well as that, there's cities like Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung which we haven't been to at all. And, there's loads of Taipei that's still left to explore but we just won't get the chance it seems.
We have a friend who has just come on holiday here from South Korea. She was only commenting last night about how much there is to do compared to Korea and even though she's here for almost two weeks on holidays she'll be really pushed for time to see a lot of the stuff she wants to. The island kind of gives you a chance to do whatever kind of holiday you want - sightseeing, city hopping, hiking, adventure sports, cultural events, lazing on a beach or a little bit of everything.
So, Taiwan actually is a really good place to come on holidays - I know it seems crazy but it's true!
