For Christmas and New Year 2010 four of us planned a trip to Taiwan, although due to illness only three of us made it.
We had booked flights from Stansted to Taipei via Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia who, although a ‘no frills’ carrier, were quite adequate even though the international meal option on every flight was BBQ chicken! [Note: Air Asia now operate out of Gatwick instead of Stansted.]
Having arrived on the island of Taiwan, we somehow managed to catch the bullet train between Taipei airport and the city centre, then the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) to find the Renuka Hotel. Not the plushest accommodation but at around £13 per person per night including breakfast, free wifi and a central location in the capital city we weren’t complaining! We soon learned that English is not a commonly spoken language and that Western visitors are rare.
We had booked a private tour of the island with Eddie, who runs Green Island Adventures, but first had a couple of days in Taipei on our own. We purchased Taipei cards, which really eased our travel and sightseeing around the city, as you load money onto the card and then just beep yourself onto public transport and bypass queues to gain discounted entry into tourist attractions. At the end of our trip, we cashed them back in and were refunded any unspent money.
On our first day we travelled to the end of the MRT line to visit Taipei Zoo. This was well laid out and the animals, including a panda house, clearly well looked after. We were able to spend a pleasant few hours at the zoo for around a bargain £1.20 each. From the zoo entrance we took the Maokong gondola ride. This long cablecar ride stops halfway at Zhinan temple before continuing to the tea houses in the mountains. Having researched the many tea houses we opted to visit Yuan Xu Yuan as this had indoor seating surrounding koi fish ponds and outdoor seating on a terrace overlooking the city. On the whole the weather was quite chilly, but today the sun shone and we were able to enjoy glorious views of the Taipei 101 building rising out of the city. A kettle was plugged in at our table and we were served a tray containing cups, small tea pot, jug, strainer and tin of oolong tea. I have to say it didn’t taste great though, as we spoke no Taiwanese and the waitresses spoke no English, we weren’t exactly sure how we were supposed to make the tea with all the accoutrements!
We then took a long stroll to the tea promotion centre which unfortunately contained nothing more than some relics of the tea industry, a giant teapot suspended from the ceiling and a few display panels. We were rather hoping for a tour of a tea plantation.
At twilight we headed to Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, and ranked as the world’s tallest building from 2004 until just before our visit. Not surprisingly the building has 101 floors (with an additional five floors below ground) with observation decks. Unfortunately we were not able to visit the outdoor deck as it was closed for set up of New Year’s Eve fireworks, but there were still great views from the indoor deck and many informative panels about the design and efficiency of the building. We were able to see the mass damper in the centre of the building which steadies it during typhoons and earthquakes - impressive technology.
After exchanging many emails it was then time to meet Eddie. The fact he turned up over an hour earlier than arranged to pick us up from our hotel should have been some indication of things to come! Eddie is South African, married to a Taiwanese lady, and the only person who offers English speaking tours. Whilst he got us round the island his company, Green Island Adventures, is not really to be recommended. Driving out of the capital we passed a tall tower painted with a giraffe and, minutes later, passed it again in the other direction. We knew from our trip up Maokong that there was only one such tower in the city, but rather than admit he was lost Eddie told us there were two! In the end he passed his satnav to us and we navigated him out of the city!
Throughout the tour he made up stories (hence the title of this article) and talked non-stop about his rich American clients, their families and their tips. We had already decided he would be sorely disappointed with the latter from us! One day we all pretended to be asleep in our people-mover just so he would stop talking, and another day Eddie threatened to evict one of us from the vehicle for disagreeing with him!
Having escaped the capital city, we headed along scenic Highway 11 that hugs the east coast of Taiwan between Hualien and Taitung, stopping for photo opportunities at clifftops and Taroko Gorge. The marble walled canyons are supposedly one of the top attractions of the island, but unfortunately our trekking was restricted to a 200 metre walk wearing a hard hat through the ‘tunnel of nine turns’, due to rockfall caused by a typhoon two months previously. En route to Taitung we experienced one of many night markets, crossed the Tropic of Cancer and were promised a meal at the best dumpling restaurant in town by Eddie – it turned out to be no more than a greasy spoon equivalent. We went to bed hungry.
Although Eddie specialises in diving trips to Green Island - a small volcanic island approximately 20 miles off the east coast of Taiwan - and we spent one night there as part of our tour, he did not accompany us. Having driven like a maniac to reach Taitung airport, Eddie discovered our flight was actually an hour later, so he took us for lunch at McDonald’s. As it happened this was a good thing because dining opportunities on the island were limited and mostly seafood which I don’t like (well, not the octopus/squid variety anyway).
We eventually boarded our 18 seater plane for the short flight and were greeted by a man at the other side who transferred us to our Japanese style accommodation with futons at Jack’s boutique hotel. In broken English we were told we would be provided with free scooters to get around the island. But on discovering we had never ridden scooters before and didn’t have driving licences with us, he told us we would have to hire a golf buggy instead. One phone call and a promise of payment from Eddie to the hire people later, we set off driving a golf buggy wearing wet suits for our included snorkelling trip. Very surreal!
After snorkelling we were free to do as we pleased and set off to Chaojih, which is one of only three sea water hot springs in the world and was our main reason for including Green Island on our tour. Some pools went into the sea, others were specially built, temperatures varied from cool to scorching and some included water jets. Apart from the chef from the island prison, with whom we managed to exchange a few words, we had the place to ourselves. We lazed in the pools until it turned dark and stormy. Then we hoped that we could find our way back in the dark and that the buggy battery was fully charged! Having been told one of the flights had been cancelled next day and having no tickets, we insisted on being taken to the airport immediately after breakfast and our host accompanying us to the check-in desk to ensure we got three of the 18 places. It was now 31 December and we would have been seriously hacked off – not to mention starving - had we been stranded on the island for New Year’s Eve!
Safely back on the mainland with Eddie we continued to Kenting National Park, the most southerly point in Taiwan. Once again we spotted one of Eddie’s untruths as he told us he had never done the walking trail through the park, yet upon reaching the wooden boardwalk along the coast he commented it was new! We stayed at Red Garden Resort, a Balinese style guest house owned by a pleasant Englishman who also owns an Italian and Mexican restaurant in the town. We didn’t starve here – hurrah! During a walk on the beach we were approached by a group of giggling girls who wanted to practise their English and who laughed at our bare feet whilst they were wearing woolly bobble hats. They had written in the sand and we managed to ascertain that, rather than entering the year 2011, the Taiwanese were celebrating their special year 100. After dinner we strolled through the night market that lined both sides of the main street, playing the obligatory pinball games, smelling the national delicacy of stinky tofu (which lives up to the name!) and avoiding traffic as there were no pavements. Needless to say we enjoyed watching lots of fireworks at midnight.
On New Year’s Day we enjoyed an al fresco breakfast and a chat with the guest house owner, during which it became apparent he thought Eddie was an idiot as much as we did. Unfortunately he went to open a side gate to find Eddie standing right behind it. He had probably heard our entire conversation about him! Nevertheless, he still took us to the National Museum Of Marine Biology, the Taiwanese equivalent of a British Sealife Centre. An interesting and relaxing day.
From Kenting we headed north to Sun Moon Lake which is the largest body of water in Taiwan. En route we drove through mountains, at times not knowing if the roads would be open due to the recent typhoon, with a stop in Alishan National Scenic Area where we visited a 1,000 year old cypress tree and saw wild monkeys. We were supposed to go walking, but Eddie decided he wasn’t fit enough and made excuses for us to leave after a short stroll. He also decided our paragliding trip was too dangerous – even though he’d included it on our itinerary! – so that was cancelled with no offer of a refund.
At Sun Moon Lake we checked into Full House Resort which was rather quirky and like staying in a museum. Unfortunately there was no heating and it was very cold at night, meaning I added thick socks, a fleece and scarf to my sleepwear! As we emerged for breakfast everywhere was in darkness with no evidence of a light switch (which turned out to be behind a picture on the wall!) so we sat in the dark awaiting a member of staff to appear and wondering what would be for breakfast. Today we had a cable car and boat trip included in our itinerary. Having been told by Eddie that the first cable car was at 9.00am we were dismayed to find, having walked there, that it actually opened at 10.00am. After much to-ing and fro-ing between the boat pier and cablecar station, we managed to find the correct boat for which we had tickets and had a pleasant cruise around the lake, even though we didn’t understand a word of the commentary! We were then taken to the other side of the lake and explored Wenwu temple whilst the dragons and prayer wheels were explained.
Next stop was Puli winery which turned out to be an exhibition and shop with tastings of wine, beer and liqueurs – but with no evidence of any vineyard or tour. So one of our anticipated highlights was a disappointment. We ended the day in Taiwan’s third largest city, Taichung - not to be confused with Taitung, as seems to happen often with overseas visitors. As this was Eddie’s home town he was able to stay with his family overnight and leave us in peace to explore more night markets.
On our final day of touring Eddie drove us to Sanyi woodcarving village. No prizes for guessing what the shops that lined the street sold! We had been given the option to return to Taipei by bullet train for a supplement, but having already had the experience from the airport we had declined. However, as Eddie was already home and was useless at navigating around the capital and wanted to save himself a six hour round trip, he opted to pay for our train tickets himself. We were soon back in Taipei and once again on our own, although not for long as we’d arranged to meet up with Claire (yes, a very Taiwanese name!), a girl we’d met whilst touring New Zealand four years previously and with whom, thanks to Facebook, we’d kept in touch. She works for the Taiwan tourist board and, upon returning to the Renuka Hotel, we were handed goodie bags filled with leaflets, cakes and MRT cards that Claire had left for us.
Meeting for dinner, she took us to Din Tai Fung which is a Michelin star restaurant. We had no idea what to order from the menu, so we allowed Claire to order on our behalf and plates of dumplings and other delicacies arrived in the middle of the table for us all to share. It was very reasonably priced and also very popular.
The following evening Claire took us to Modern Toilet restaurant in the trendy Ximending district of Taipei. This was a personal holiday highlight for me. We would never have found the restaurant on our own and we laughed throughout the meal. The tables were baths with a glass lid over them, the chairs were toilets with humorous seat covers, food was served in crockery shaped liked baths or toilets, drinks were served in ceramic vessels shaped like urinals and the chocolate ice cream dessert included with every meal was served in a squat toilet shaped dish! Hilarious and definitely a themed restaurant idea that should be imported to the UK!
In between our nights out with a local we caught the MRT to the Beitou geothermal area where we were able to bathe in natural hot springs with 80-100C water temperatures. We opted to visit the public baths rather than one of the many hot springs based within a hotel but had to time our visit carefully as they are closed several times a day for cleaning. Once again we were the only Western faces.
We then set ourselves the challenge of visiting the Star Tower revolving restaurant built around an incinerator tower. It is not near an MRT station and Claire - despite working for the tourist board – had never been there herself! Our visit really emphasised how little English is spoken in Taiwan, as the restaurant manageress did not even understand what we believed to be the most universally recognised word - Coca Cola! We spent a pleasant hour taking in the different views of the capital as our table turned and trying to figure out the meaning of a sign with a crossed-out dinosaur. Apparently it meant ‘no pets allowed’!
On our final day in Taipei we strolled through the 2-28 peace park which is a memorial to the massacre that took place on 28 February 1947 and is now popular for early morning tai chi exercises. We were en route to the presidential building where, upon logging our passport details, we were allocated a free private guide for a tour. Apart from our friend Claire, the guide spoke the best English we heard all trip. At the time of our visit the 2010 International Flora Expo was taking place, so we decided to spend the afternoon there. There are only so many vegetable sculptures, bamboo displays and animals shaped from corn you can see without losing interest and walking around the international gardens outside was bitterly cold, so we didn’t manage to see everything. After warming up, our last night was spent at Longshan Temple night market which included the infamous snake alley, although nowadays there was not much evidence of snakes and the few on display are not allowed to be photographed. We were not brave enough to buy a tray of shot glasses, which included snake blood and snake venom. Yuk!
All in all it was an interesting trip, albeit more difficult and colder than expected.
First published in VISA 101 (Feb 2012)
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