Taking some additional days off around the Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan (similar to All Saints day for Christians) we decided to team up with Yupei (Taiwanese) and Steve (Québécois) to tour around Taiwan island in a week.
We were starting to be ashamed of not having visited yet a number of places in Taiwan after almost a year and a half in Taiwan but the truth is that a lot of people from Taipei has never ventured to remote areas of Taiwan.
With a rented a brand new car and went clockwise direction (so blue, red, green on the map). The whole trip was quite unusual and very very local (we only ate western food once in the whole trip).
In such a small territory, Taiwan diversity is really impressive. You can feel like being in at the Pyrenees/La Cerdanya, the Amalfitan Coast (Italy) or an island in Thailand by travelling just few hours.
East Coast (Yilan, Hualien and Taitung)
East coast is said to be the most beautiful area of Taiwan. It is also the area that gets more earthquakes and typhoons. To quickly get into holidays and adventure mode we started with a short paragliding flight in Yilan. Paying 200 TWD (~4.8 euros) we spent the night at the Sanqing Temple that is the most famous Taoist temple in Taiwan. Going south we stopped at Taroko Gorge National Park for a bath in a natural hotspring (actually it was closed and we had to jump over various fences) and a short hike. Taroko is the most famous tourist destination in Taiwan and we will need to go back there as we did not have time to visit the most famous trails. Right before reaching Taitung we walked around Sanshiantai. Taitung is the most laid-back city in Taiwan and I actually liked it very much. For us it was the base to jump to Lanyu (Orchid Island).
Pollastre "a la brasa", molt famòs a Yilan
Famous roasted chicken at Yilan02-Apr-2011 18:07, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 3.5, 18.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800
Habitació per 20 persones al temple. Molts roncs a la nit.
Room for 20 peope at the temple. A lot of snoring at night.02-Apr-2011 20:15, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 3.5, 18.0mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 1600
Quan l'estatua encara no té els ulls pintats (la part més important) li tapen la cara
When the statue does not have the eyes painted (the most important part), the face is covered03-Apr-2011 07:21, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 8.0, 38.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200
A caminar (rollo anunci Decathlon)
Hiking (it could be a Decathlon advert)03-Apr-2011 15:29, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 5.6, 48.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 360
Although we did not include Lanyu on our initial plans, so many people (including Yupei and Steve) recommended us to go that could not missed at the end. As there were no plane tickets available we took a 2.5h boat (in a very rough sea) to reach the Lanyu. It is indeed a small island (it takes around 45 minutes to go around in a scooter and it has around 4000 inhabitants in total) but it is somehow special and you can feel very relaxed (at least during tourism off-peak season). Lanyu is known to be the home of Yami people (Taiwanese aboriginal people). The fact is that Yami people are struggling to keep their culture and traditions alive with all the tourism, a relatively large number of people from Taiwan (main island) that has settled in Lanyu and a mandatory education system in Mandarin. We stayed for 2 days in Lanyu and we (only myself and Anna) took a plane back to Taitung. Yupei and Steve took a boat to Kenting (very south of Taiwan).
Barques tradicionals. Veus al Pulpito?
Traditional boast. Can you see Pulpito?06-Apr-2011 10:09, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 10.0, 26.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200
Els dos van picar amb el cap amb les fustes
Both hit their heads with the wooden structure06-Apr-2011 17:37, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 6.3, 44.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200
Fent amics (de Hong Kong) que miraven la posta de sol
Group of people (from Hong Kong) enjoying the sunset06-Apr-2011 17:38, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 7.1, 35.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 200
After fooling an illiterate district commissioner, since early 80’s, the island has a nuclear waste plant in the south of the island. There is a big controversy around the nuclear waste facility and it is expected to be shut down by 2016. As a minor compensation the inhabitants have free electricity and water.
Beach and tea plantations (Taimali and Luye)
Back to Taiwan “mainland” we strolled around Taitung county to visit Taimali beach (BBC chose this beach as one of the 60 best places in the world to watch the sunrise at year 2000) and the tea plantations around the Luye township. To sleep we ended up in a small recently opened hotel (~2 months old with various rooms still being finished) where we were the only guests for the night. To a certain extent the geography of the area reminded La Cerdanya, in northen Catalonia.
Hotel per a nosaltres solets (l'altre cotxe és de l'amo)
Hotel for us alone (the other car is from the manager)08-Apr-2011 09:30, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 9.0, 20.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200
I am now experimenting with panorama photos. You will need to have Silverlight plug-in installed to see the panorama below. You can go full screen for a better effect.
West coast (Tainan, Taichung and Changhua)
We started the last segment of the trip visiting Fo Guang Shan, the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. Like an amusement park for Buddhism.
As we had lost Yupei and Steve but we still wanted to keep the really local touch on the trip, we decided to look for accommodation via Couchsurfing (we’ve already hosted some people at our flat in Taipei).
At Tainan we stayed at Hans Harn place. Hans grew up at Canada and came back to Taiwan 10 years ago. He’s in the process of getting is PhD at NCKU. He took us to very local restaurants and shared with us his experience of being back at his roots. Tainan is the ancient capital of Taiwan and contains a mix of Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese cultures that makes the city very pleasant and interesting.
Model amateur amb amics
Amateur models with her friends08-Apr-2011 18:08, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D5000, 5.3, 46.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 450
We drove up to Taichung to have a quick coffee with Miguel Salas and Miguel Rubio. We initially met them at the events organized by La Casa de España en Taiwan and we’ve kept regular contact since then.
We spent the last night at Changua with Eric. Eric is a student who came to Taipei around mid February. We hosted him and a friend for 1 night. We were actually the first surfers ever at his home. We enjoyed dinner and tea with his parents before heading for a night tour that ended up at the Dajia Mazu pilgrimage that happened to be at Changua that night. Mazu became a patron saint for Taiwanese people and there are about 800-1000 temples dedicated (totally or partially) to Mazu around Taiwan.
Pero que passa aquí, que no es treballa en aquet país, sempre esteu de viatge o menjan. Si ho sapigués la Iaia.
A en Carles ahir l’hi va fotre una bronca que encara no sap per on navega je je je.
Perdoneu, però algú ho habia de dir.
Molts records
Enric.
Nina
Apr 13, 2011, 8:26
You tried hot pot?!
Albert
Apr 14, 2011, 12:49
Yep. Hot Pot Tainan style :)
Lourdes
Apr 16, 2011, 22:11
Hauré de tornar perquè en falta veure encara moltes coses made in Taiwan. Petonets xinets de casa!!
piku
Apr 22, 2011, 7:23
Albert, encara sort que vas sortir viu amb aquest banyador apretadissim…. :)
Abili i Carme
Apr 25, 2011, 8:36
A part de la varietat del territori recorregut, ens ha sorprés la varietat de mitjans de transport. Només us feu faltar el coet espacial.
Taking some additional days off around the Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan (similar to All Saints day for Christians) we decided to team up with Yupei (Taiwanese) and Steve (Québécois) to tour around Taiwan island in a week.
Pero que passa aquí, que no es treballa en aquet país, sempre esteu de viatge o menjan. Si ho sapigués la Iaia.
A en Carles ahir l’hi va fotre una bronca que encara no sap per on navega je je je.
Perdoneu, però algú ho habia de dir.
Molts records
Enric.
You tried hot pot?!
Yep. Hot Pot Tainan style :)
Hauré de tornar perquè en falta veure encara moltes coses made in Taiwan. Petonets xinets de casa!!
Albert, encara sort que vas sortir viu amb aquest banyador apretadissim…. :)
A part de la varietat del territori recorregut, ens ha sorprés la varietat de mitjans de transport. Només us feu faltar el coet espacial.