Taiwan

July 2011

Another business trip to Taipei. Last time I was here it was pouring rain, besides the fact that I had no time, before, during or after to do some sightseeing. I only did a quick trip up Taipei 101 with pretty much nothing to see due to mist.

This time having time to spend I added 5 days to my business trip to get a grip of what, I read in a brochure, is a wonderful country. 

Some figures: an island 394 km's long, 144 wide, covered with mountains (over 150 of them over 300 meters), the highest, Mount Jade, peaking at 3952 meters in a marine tropical/subtropical environment. Average temperature in summer: 30°C with average 70% humidity.

Ilha Formosa, the name given by the Portuguese, meaning “beautiful island”, and still widely used, is located south of Japan. The west coast is 150 km from mainland China separated by the Taiwan straight in the South China Sea. The east coast boards the Pacific Ocean.

It’s a modern democracy, social security for everyone, and an economy based on industry, mainly electronics. As I discovered Giant Cycles, of which I own one, are from here and not the US as I thought.

The official name: "Republic of China (Taiwan)" can be lurking. Taiwan is not administrated by China mainland aka People's Republic of China, nor is one of its provinces. More info here.

After our work day, we enjoyed time out with my colleagues in Taipei, trying weird food, strolling through the markets and busy streets, seeing some monuments and even attending a base-ball game, which is pretty big here. My US colleague Ron wanted to see what they’re worth here and explained the rules in details to the ignorant European I was...

Job over. Having looked through the brochures and maps, making an open-to-changes approximate plan, I set off.

On day one, I drove around the north coast...

... and eventually got sun-burnt when walking the coastal trail at Lao-Mei National Park. 

At lunch time in that small fisher’s village, a young girl from Hong-Kong cycling around Taiwan with her father for their holidays, helped order my fresh see-food meal.
The world being a small place she also spoke French due to having done her studies in Nice…!
Really small world? Or is it that everyone I meet went at least once to Nice…?

I then drove a few km’s further to the must-see Yellow Stone Park, with its weird rock formations carved by the salty sea-wind and the waves.

Then back in direction of Taipei through the Yangmingshan mountain range.

After running away from a very crappy hotel, halfway down the mountain road, I was back into Taipei’s urban jungle with its thousands and thousands of motorcycles zooming in from everywhere, a mess that flows pretty well and smoothly once you master the Need For Speed driving skills needed to get through it. No traffic jams at any time, just rolls!

Next morning after a good night in a decent hotel, I dropped off the rental car and headed to Taipei Main Station to catch a train down to Taitung, for a wonderful see-and-mountain east-coast landscapes five-hour trip.

Having chatted with a local aboriginal musician (actually planning a European tour with his band), I reckoned I might go further south when he told me that the train drove onto Kaohsiung.

After having changed drivers in Taitung, the train headed west along the south of Central Mountains and ended at 8.30pm in Taiwan’s second largest city. 

My ticket not being valid for that leg of the trip (as I had initially intended to stop in Taitung), I had to sneak out of the station and it’s ticket-control gates.
I passed through that service counter…the girl was so puzzled to see a white, naturally walking right through her office that she just couldn’t say a word… 

Wanting to settle down I checked-in next to the station, at the very freshly refurbished Kindliness hotel, funny name… Good value for price and they had bikes for free to go around in this cycle-friendly harbour city, which I eventually did.

Next leg, a 3 hour train ride to Chiyayi. There I hoped on a mini-bus for a hell-ride to the fresher climate of Alishan mountains.

Alishan, is a mountain resort 2100 meters above sea-level in the Yushan Mountain range, offering nice hikes through ancient forests (with trees up to 2500 years old); I eventualy took the one up to the peak at 2600 meters.

The next morning at 5am I set off for another peak, 2450 meters, renowned for it’s spectacular sunrise views.

Unfortunately the mist had also decided to get up early …! No sunrise to admire, so back down. I small walk through the forest gave me some other things to see and shoot, 2000 year old trees. 















After having been dumped off from the overcrowded 9.00 AM bus I caught the 11.30 one, that half-way back down ended overcrowded as well and had me sitting in akward position between the gear stick and the handbrake... 

A quick train ride to Ershui in a carriage packed with school kids that had never seen a white (sometimes you feel quite alone...), brought me to the departure of the small JiJi train line leading to the village of Silhui, where I jumped on a bus up to the very touristy Sun Moon Lake, the most visited scenic area in the country.
The views can indeed be beautiful, with nice walks to be done all around… when the fog’s not part of it!

No luck, the mist was there again for next morning’s sunrise. 

Last day, a 90-minute bus ride to Taichung, where I boarded the High-Speed Rail back to Taipei. Then grabbed a meal and my suitcase at the Westin and off to the airport.

Taiwan with its multiple fascinating landscapes and its excellent ground transportation infrastructure is an excellent destination, offering, according to me, the best of Asia

For next time, Taroko Gorge, Penghu Islands, see more of the East coast sceneries and a hike up Mount Jade.

Thanks to seat61.com for the train info.

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