This year I skipped a family holiday for the first time to capitalize on the week off of school to travel to a new place - Taiwan. It was strange celebrating Thanksgiving in a foreign country, and I missed my family dearly, but I had the travel itch and desperately needed to scratch it.
I ended up choosing Taiwan after a series of searches to find a suitable match for both me (traveling from NYC area) and my companion (traveling from Seattle). I hadn't really thought much about traveling to Taiwan before, but once we settled on this location and I had the chance to learn more about the region, I started to get really excited!
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| Day one of exploring! |
I prepped for my trip by reading a travel guide book (I never do this), and attending a regional series session at my school on China and Taiwan relations. The history of the island is fascinating, and it has undergone many changes in regime, from Dutch, to Japanese, to Chinese rule. Today, tension exists within the region as Taiwan struggles to gain the political recognition that matches it's cultural and economic independence. In addition to a rich history, the island is also gifted with many natural wonders, from hot springs to gorgeous gorges. In the cities, you can find bustling night markets and stunning temples.
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| A night market in Hualien full of carnival games |
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| A hillside template in Jiufen |
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| Coastline outside of Taroko Gorge |
It was fun traveling with a backpack again, as my last couple of trips had been for work or with family. Unfortunately I lost my loyal pack in my move from Texas to New Haven, so I reached out to my classmates to see if I could borrow one for the week. Shout out to Lisa for lending me her beautiful purple Deuter - she saved the day, and also introduced me to my future pack!
I departed New Haven the evening after the heavily celebrated Harvard-Yale game (and a Yale win!). I started the journey with a 2 hour Uber ride to JFK airport (so much better than the 4 hour public transport option - but only viable when you can split the fare with at least 2 others), and an hour to refuel from the festivities in the lounge before boarding (thanks Priority Pass!). My flight was a whopping 16 hours and 10 minutes, but luckily I was able to pass a large portion of it in slumber. I landed in Taipei at 5 a.m., and after deplaning, customs and a 40 minute uber ride into the city I met up with my companion at Meander Taipei Hostel. Apparently we chose well for the hostel, for I had missed a wild day and night out the day before. I slept for a few hours before getting up to start exploring.
We spent the next 2.5 days in Taipei scouting the local food, sight seeing from the world's 10th tallest skyscraper at Taipei 101, drinking a TON of bubble milk tea, checking out the coffee scene, and walking through parks and to temples. I even had the good fortune to stumble upon the morning prayers at Longshan Temple, which is an absolutely stunning landmark in the Wanhua district. The prayers were sung, and although I can't speak any Chinese, I found myself swaying and singing along to many of the slower chants. It was a special experience.
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| The making of dumplings at the original Din Tai Fung |
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| Taipei 101 during a rare moment of blue skies |
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| Longshan Temple from the outside (morning prayers were in session inside) |
After Taipei we joined some of our new friends from our hostel on a trip out to Jiufen, a small town on the Northeast coast that was founded around gold mining. The town is perched on top of a mountain and has spectacular views of the coasts and the small islands directly off of it. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad when we were there, and the fog was so thick that we only had a short window to be able to catch a glimpse of the coast. However, we still had a good time, as we spent the afternoon in a tea house learning tea ceremony traditions and singing with tourists from Singapore, and then scouted out all of the shops and local delicacies in the old street shopping district. The peanut ice cream rolls were SO good! The smell of stinky tofu was not so great.... while I know it's a local delicacy, I couldn't help but to speed up my pace when I passed a stall serving the fragrant dish. To each their own I guess.
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| The lanterns in old town |
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| Traditional Chinese tea house |
The next morning in Jiufen we set out early to climb a mountain - only to be completely engulfed by fog and unable to see more than 5 feet in front of us! It was a good workout though, and truly enchanting to hear the wind whipping at the top of the peak. I'm not going to lie - it was a little creepy up there!
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| Not much of a view! |
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| Almost to the top! |
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| Made it 835m up - absolutely soaked |
After showering and warming up back at the hostel we packed our bags and bused back to Taipei where we spent the afternoon bathing in the public hot springs. It was a little bizarre that the springs were surrounded by high-rise hotels, but the public setting gave me a better glimpse into the local culture. There were 4 pools - 1 warm, 1 hot, 1 steaming (HOLY COW IT WAS HOT), and 1 really cold pool to plunge into after the super hot one. I channeled my inner Daenerys Targaryen and pretended I was the mother of dragons as I did my best to stay seated in the steaming pool, but I didn't last more than 45 seconds. By the time I got into the ice bath I could feel a thumping pulse throughout my body as the blood recirculated. The experience was either very good for my health, or very bad... I'm still kicking though so it looks like no damage was done.
Our next stop was down in Hualien to visit the Taroko Gorge. We sort of messed up the planning and didn't get our train tickets ahead of time, so we didn't arrive until the last hour of daylight and burned a day traveling. Note to anyone else visiting: 1) buy your train tickets ahead of time, and 2) bring an international drivers license to be able to rent a scooter! Although we didn't execute too well, the day at the gorge made the trip absolutely worth it. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! We started by checking out the coast, and although it was overcast, the water was a stunning blue. After the coast we rode our scooter into the national park, and throughout the day we stopped at 3 different hiking trails and traveled over 15 km on scooter between magnificent peaks. When we got back to the hostel that night, every time I closed my eyes I saw the stunning scenery again and again. I wish I could have stayed there for days. Sadly, we butchered the train back as well, and everything was sold out for the next day except for the 6 a.m., so we packed our bags and left a day early on the evening train back to Taipei and arrived late after a long day. Our final day was spent back in Taipei, and we revisited our favorite restaurants (Din Tai Fung is the best) and grabbed some snacks for the flight back.
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| The stunning waters on the Shakadang Trail in Taroko National Park |
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| The Shallow Grotto in the Yanzikou trail |
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| At the end of the park in Tianxiang |
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| A Pagoda in Tianxiang |
My journey home was aggressive. I woke up at 4:50 a.m., got to the airport around 5:40 a.m., took off at 8 a.m., and landed at JFK 14 hours later, only to have another 4 hours to get back to New Haven just in time for Monday classes. While I'm loving school, I won't miss how inaccessible the airport is.
I'm hoping to get a couple more adventures in before the summer - with some Central and South America tentatively on the list for January and March travels. I'll do my best to keep up the blog. Thanks for reading!
