Everything we want in a Travel Destination
We spent 27 days in Taiwan, October 21st to November 16th and loved it. Taiwan was not originally on our Round the World Route, but after the earthquake in Nepal, we started looking for another destination to visit in the fall. I read somewhere that the food was good and one of our regular spots in Albany was a Taiwanese noodle shop, so the seed was planted. Even after we bought at tickets we didn’t really know what we were getting into, and it was one of the best decisions we’ve made on this trip. Taiwan stands out as one of our top destinations on our ever-growing list of countries.
1. Go
Transportation in Taiwan is clean, easy, and on time. Oh, and did we mention that there’s tons of English. Yep, it couldn’t be easier getting from A to B in Taiwan. And if you get lost or aren’t sure, the friendly Taiwanese will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. They might even wait for your bus with you and then talk to the driver as you board making you feel like a kid on the first day of school. Thanks (Taiwanese) mom!
Taiwan – Taipei – Night bus in the rain
Total traveling distances:
- Bus – 332 km
- Train – 820 km
- High Speed Train – 350 km
- Metro – 140 km
- Taxi – 49 km
- Foot – 366,000 steps
2. See
Taiwan didn’t really have many major sights, but there was plenty to see. There were a handful of museums, countless temples, and lush wilderness. We really loved the cities of Taiwan and spent most of our time eating, drinking tea, wandering, and eating some more.
Favorite Museums:
- National Palace Museum, Taipei – Huge and a bit overwhelming with the amount of items on display. Our favorite exhibit, by far, was the works of Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit missionary in China who became the painter at the imperial court.
- Fine Arts Museum, Taichung – This museum is free, dynamic, and interactive. There was enough English to get by and the crowds weren’t bad.
Taiwan – Taichung – Fine Arts Museum
Favorite Outdoors:
- Sun Moon Lake – Excellent walking paths, stunning views, good food, nice hotels, and dependable transportation made this the perfect place to spend a few days.
Taiwan – Sun Moon Lake – 5 months and still alive!
Favorite Cities:
- Taipei – A city with lots of contradictions – clean and dingy, orderly and chaotic, modern and traditional. Great for wandering and eating. We spent over a week here and wish we could have spent a few more.
- Taichung – Quieter, less humid, and greener than most of the other cities in Taiwan. There are very few tourists, which means less English but still enough to get by.
- Tainan – Some of the best food in Taiwan, which says a lot because all of Taiwan has excellent food. Tainan has lots of lanes and alleys that are perfect for finding all those hidden gems and for getting ?lost.
3. Eat
Yum! Taiwanese food is surprising, delicious, and hard to describe. There’s mostly Chinese, but with aboriginal and Japanese twists. Nearly everything we ate was delicious, unique, and made you want to come back for more.
Favorite Foods:
- Markets – Both night and day markets are the place to eat. They are packed with people and have a huge variety of food from fresh fruit to stinky tofu to meat on a stick.
- Dumplings – Ok, full disclosure, Lindsey is obsessed with dumplings of all kinds. We had them every chance we could get – traditional dim sum, soup dumplings, big dumplings, small dumplings, spicy dumplings, dumplings in a bag, dumplings in a box, in restaurants, in markets, in shopping malls, in heaven. Alright, that last one isn’t true, but it sure seemed like it!
- Taiwanese Meatballs – Filling and cheap, and totally strange. These are meatballs in a glutenous rice paper wrapping doused in a brown sauce and ground raw garlic.
- Chinese Breakfast – It’s a bit difficult to wake up and eat something totally new a different, but the traditional Chinese breakfast was pretty great. Congee is a simple rice porridge with toppings and there’s often an omelette of sorts on the side.
- Pork Belly – We had some of the best pork belly we’ve ever had in Taiwan. It came on top of rice, in a bun, or in a rice burger.
- Noodle Bowls – This is a classic dish found everywhere. Broth, noodles, meat, and veggies. It’s pretty simple, but varied greatly throughout the country. Noodles were sometimes thin and clear, or thick hand cut. All were delicious.
4. Drink
After boozing it up in New Zealand, we took a break in Taiwan, which was fine because there isn’t much of a bar scene and there are only a few types of beer. Taiwan Beer is the most common and it’s pretty a basic pilsner, drinkable but nothing special. However, we did get totally addicted to tea.
Favorite Drinks:
- Iced Tea – Mostly bottled cold tea, but sometimes fresh iced tea mixed with fruit juice.
- Bubble Tea and Pearl Milk Tea – Sweet, strong tea with milk a tapioca balls. This stuff is delicious, but due to the milk content, we could only have it occasionally.
5. Sleep
Hostels in Taiwan are pretty excellent overall. The staff are very friendly, the rooms are clean, and there’s lots of tourist information. It is a little more expensive than some other countries, but since the cost of everything else is so low, it evens out. We did have a few bad experiences (bed bugs, all female hostel), but overall some of our favorite hostels on the entire trip have been in Taiwan.
Favorite Sleeps:
- Taipei Walker Guesthouse, Taipei – Our first and last nights were spent here. The staff was incredible friendly and helpful. The location was quiet and out of the downtown area, but close to lots of restaurants, a shopping mall, and the metro.
- D’Well Hostel, Kaohsiung – Rated #1 on Trip Advisor. Our double room here was more like a fancy hotel room. They also had hot breakfast included and instant noodles for free at night.
6. Move
Taiwan is pretty hot and humid, making runs difficult. With Pat’s illness, we didn’t get out to exercise too much. Lindsey took advantage of our large air conditioned rooms to do body weight circuits. We really wanted to rent bikes at Sun Moon Lake or in one of the cities, but Pat wasn’t feeling well enough.
Favorite walking/running spots:
- River Paths, Taipei – Despite the heat and humidity, there are lots of paths along the river for walking, running, and biking. The paths are dotted with basketball courts, mini-golf courses, and open spaces for line dances and martial arts.
- Sun Moon Lake – There were lots of boardwalks built up around the edge of the lake and hikes up the hills to look outs. Our favorite was to the Ci’en Pagoda.
Taiwan – Sun Moon Lake – Ci’en Pagoda
7. Etcetera
As we’ve mentioned before, our rough budget for this trip is $100 a day (for two people). Our daily average in Taiwan was $74.53. We were really surprised that Taiwan was so affordable. SLEEP took up about half, but GO and SEE were very low compared to other countries. EAT was pretty cheap, but not the cheapest (that was Bolivia). We barely drank any alcohol and didn’t spend a cent on MOVE.
We cannot talk about Taiwan without mentioning the people. The Taiwanese are some of the friendliest people we have ever encountered. At hostels, the staff are always helpful with lots of recommendations and advice. At shops and food stalls, they are courteous and helpful even when they don’t speak English. People on the street often say hello (especially kids) and those who speak more English often ask us where we are going and if they can help us get there.
Traveling in Taiwan is incredibly easy partially because the Taiwanese are very honest. Crime rates are very low and people don’t even lock up their bikes. At train stations people will leave their bags to go to the bathroom. There is no bartering and taxi drivers would never think to overcharge. It’s one less thing to worry about as a tourist and makes Taiwan a comfortable place to travel.
Check out all our photos from Taiwan on Flickr and our post, Colors of Taiwan.
Also, check out our weekly posts from Taiwan:
Nomadic Cadence 