Taiwan-derful (Part 1)

The trip to Taiwan started with a very early morning start for our international flight. We, being the rule abiding traveller’s we are, planned that we would be at the airport 2 hours before the flight as most international flights require. We pulled up in front of the dark, empty airport with not a person in sight. We soon realised that the 2 hour rule does not apply for the first flights of the day as the airport only opened an hour before the flight, a fact neither of us thought of to check.

Our safari themed Airbnb

After a smooth arrival in to Taiwan, we navigated the subway to the Taipei Main Station, put out bags in some lockers and went for a walk. It did not take either of us long to realise that this was the hottest and most humid place we have ever been. After a short taxi ride to Ximen, we were greeted at our apartment complex by the lovely and very helpful Barry, the Airbnb property manager. He took us through the many hi-tech features within the apartment and set us up for our week long stay. The thought of being able to stay put for a week was a very welcome idea to for us both as we unpacked and checked out our safari themed Airbnb including a canvas tent over our bed.

We ventured out and enjoyed a dim sum dinner at Jiu Xiang Man Yuan before heading for a much needed sleep.

Custard tart shots were our favourite…until the next day…

Our first full day in Taipei began with a delicious breakfast in one of the highly rated restaurants near our apartment. It included ridiculously thick pieces of toast with (in my case) Nutella. We began our exploration of Ximen with the Red House: A historic red brick building that was originally one of the largest markets in Taiwan, turned in to a theatre post-WW2 and now is a heritage listed site hosting a small commercial market. After getting our sugar fix at a brownie shop, with the Big Boss showing his artistic flare in the guest book, we headed back to escape the humidity for the afternoon before venturing out again at night. We bar crawled around Ximen finishing up at a bar near our apartment having plates of custard tart shots in the early hours of the morning…. We are still trying to work out how we can recreate these at home as they were absolutely delicious!!

The Rainbow bridge isn’t that colourful

As you can imagine, we had an extremely slow start to the morning, not venturing out until after lunch to head in to Taipei centre to go to the tallest building in the country, Taipei 101. We took in extraordinary views of buildings and skyscrapers encased by amazing mountain ranges, with out first taste of bubble tea. Absolutely not my things, so the Big Boss scored 2! We then headed by local bus to the famous Raohe Street night market. When walking through the market entry we saw a huge line out the front of a stall, that looked like it was selling bread rolls. We decided to see what the fuss was all about and we were not disappointed! A bread-like dough cooked in a fire filled with black pepper pork and vegetables. It was delicious!

Things then took a turn for the worse when we tried a local delicacy of stinky tofu with cheese sauce…it was revolting in the extreme!! Things improved with the sweet potato balls and the surprise of the night was a durian gratin, topped with melted cheese! Would have happily had another of these…yet still unsure if it is a main food or dessert? Once we were so full we could hardly walk, we waddled our way to see the rainbow bridge, an apparent highlight of Taipei. Well, I have seen more rainbows in the skittles ads…maybe they forgot to turn the lights on that night?

We headed back to Ximen to get an early night before a big day of exploring tomorrow.

Travel Tip: You need your passport if you pre-purchase HSR tickets

Our early morning saw us in Taipei Main Station to get the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Taichung to begin the trek to Sun and Moon Lake. I had my second bullet train fail when going to collect our tickets and being asked for our passports, which I had on accident, but Big Boss didn’t. This saw us purchase a second lot of tickets… again… both ways.

The HSR was nothing like the bullet trains in Japan, but they were comfortable and fast! We arrived in Taichung ready for our 4h bus trip to the lake. At this point we were beginning to wonder if our efforts were going to be worth it. But these thoughts were quashed when we arrived. The lake was breathtaking with the sun shining down making it look like a pool of blue glitter. We enjoyed a lovely, filling lunch over-looking the lake before catching the ferry to the Xuan Zang Temple (which, for all playing at home, had lots more stairs!).

The ferry then took us to the local indigenous village on the lake, Ito Thao village. We walked, in what can only be described as conditions replicating a furnace, to the cable cars that took you across the mountain ranges. The cable car was glass bottom, which gave us a great view of …trees! We thought it stopped at the top of the range, but were greeted with a vertical drop down the other side of the mountain. Despite this, the view of the lake was beautiful! Seeing it in it’s entirety from above makes the word lake seem too small for this body of water.

We arrived back and caught the bus back to Taichung before a storm hit. We enjoyed some subway and sushi before getting on the HSR and heading back to our apartment.

When we got home we were greeted by my washing (that was on a 15min cycle) had actually been going for 14h due to a malfunction (could have been user error)…perfect way to end a wonderful day!