Day 43 - Goodbye Taiwan

What turned out to be photographically my least productive day so far on the journey, started with a grey sky and rain.
This called for the best way to spend a day like this, by going to a museum and what better museum than the Palace Museum to see the Chinese history over 6000 years.

Since photography is not allowed in the museum there are not many photos I can share from how I spent most of my day but the visit to the museum is well worth it and one of the must see things in Taiwan.
There is really a lit to see there with different exhibitions and exhibits and even some interactive elements, although it could do with more of those. The time I had was barely enough to see the main exhibits and some other few bits.

After losing track of time in the museum and having to rush for my train in Taipei to get to Taichung on time, I was left at the station far outside town without a connecting train to the port but only 45 minutes to get there.
A (too long) taxi drive later I stood in the passenger terminal and managed to get the people in the ticket office as they were about to leave. They were nice enough to give me a ticket before we discovered that I did not have enough cash with me and there was no ATM anywhere in sight.
Thanks to some very helpful security guys there and the girls on the counter, I managed to (slightly over-) pay with a combination of NT$, RMB and EURO for my ferry ticket and get on the ferry with some time to spare.

So this is another lesson learned, if you take the ferry go to and depart from Keelung as the port is just 2 minutes from the rail station, there are ATMs available and it is quicker and cheaper to get there. The downside is that the boat only goes there every 4 days.
This or you could just get to Taichung with enough time to spare and have enough cash with you, so whatever you think is easier or more adventurous. ;)

Last but not least, thanks Jenny for everything and showing me around (all the food places)! :)

Day 42 - Tea Mountain and Night Market

As you can see from the picture above, I took the cable car up a mountain and did not hike. yes, I took the convenient way up but did not feel like hiking all the way as I have done on Huashan.
The mountain in question is the Maokong mountain in Taipei where you can see some nice temples, lots of tea houses and the Tea Promotion Centre, here you get a free tea tasting and can learn more about the local teas.

It was a nice day for a trip out of the city as it was warm but not too sunny so doing a bit of light hiking was enjoyable.
The first stop was Zinan Temple and from there in search of  'potholes' a hike to Maokong station for tea tasting and lunch.

The hike was mostly along the main road so not very demanding but it was quite peaceful and enjoyable due to almost no traffic. The views were very nice along the way and you can discover quite a bit if you keep your eyes open.

The potholes were a bit strange and without knowing the full background I was not hugely impressed (you can see for yourself above) but it was quite nice overall.

After taking the cable car down and enjoying the views by night of Taipei and the towering 101, the next stop for the day was the night market in Shilin for a browse around.
The market is pretty cool and as with all those markets, there is always plenty of stuff to see, photograph and buy. I focussed on the seeing and photographing part and let others do the buying. ;)

Tomorrow will be my last day in Taiwan and I will be taking the ferry from Taichung to Xiamen, should all go well. In case there are unexpected delays,  I guess you will get more posts from Taiwan. :)

Day 41 - Taipei 101

After arriving back to Taipei from Kaoshiung and having lunch, the destination for the day was Taipei 101 and enjoying the views. A lot of cities look the same from above but it's always a worth experience.

It was a fairly clear day so the views from the observation desk were very nice but in order not to bore you with just pictures from above, I did what I usually do an focused on the people there and tried to incorporate some other details.

You can see really far from the first observation platform and the few clouds in the sky provided a nice contrast for taking pictures.

Unlike other high buildings in places like New York, the 101 stands quite alone towering over everything so nothing you can see comes even remotely close to it in terms of hight.

After visiting the open air observation deck and the Tuned Mass Damper, which (sadly?) did not move, it was almost time for the sunset so the decision was easy to just stay a bit longer and take in the sunset.
The sunset was not very spectacular but once all the lights were on the city looked great from up here and provided great opportunities for photos.

Day 39 - Jade, Flowers and Kaoshiung Art

I thought I got out of my hotel way too late to see the best of the flower and jade markets, turns out that Taiwanese are not morning people so they were still setting up their stands when I got there mid morning.

Both markets are well worth a look and seem great for buying souvenirs, the jade market probably more as I don't think flowers will survive a flight back or my round the world trip intact. The markets are fairly big and are right under a elevated highway, the flower market even has a cool air humidifier system. As mentioned before, you don't need to get up early for either as most sellers seem to arrive at around 10 am to set things up in the jade market.

After exploring the markets and the nearby park, I got to the train station and bought a ticket for Kaoshiung in the fast train, this only takes 90 minutes to go from north Taiwan to the south of the island. During the train ride it occurred to me that the island is not very big given that even the slow train gets from north to south in 5-6 hours.

In Kaoshiung my first stop after checking in to the hotel was the Formosa Boulevard station to see the Dome of Light. I have to say it's pretty cool with some nice motives and colours. It's definitely worth a look and it's central enough so you will be going past when in Kaoshiung.
Everything was set up for a wedding of sorts so there were banners and a piano in the way but I tried to include some of the decorations and piano in my pictures. If you can't get rid of it, might as well make use of it.

The next stop was meant to be Cijin island but I got sidetracked by the Pier 2 Art District, the Lovers Pier and Banana Wharf. After spending quite a bit of time walking around there and taking pictures, I decided Cijin Island would have to wait for tomorrow.

Day 38 - Waking up in Taiwan

After getting woken up by the Chinese travel groups having a chat in the hallway at 5am, I decided to go out and see if I can get some photos of the sunset.  Unfortunately it was cloudy so the sunset was not really all that spectacular so I headed back to get a bit more sleep.

I stepped out on deck again before breakfast and could see Taiwan a few miles off in the distance. The other people on board were also out and taking pictures, talking or drying clothes.

We arrived on time in Keelung and after a quick pass through immigration I walked down the road to the Keelung train station to get the train to Taipei. The port and train station in Keelung are ideally located from each other so it was nice not to have to bother with taxis or having to take buses just to get to the train station.

At first look, Taiwan felt quite different from China, it was quieter, cleaner an people and cars actually stopped at traffic lights. Only one thing seemed not to fit, the noise and exhaust from the scooters as the are not electric as in China.

Once I arrived in Taipei and walked to my hotel, I arranged to meetup with my friend Jenny for lunch and to show me round a bit. We had a great lunch and long lunch at that but it was great to catch up. Afterwards we headed to the Ximen area for a walk around and to take some photos.

The Ximen area is quite hip and the fashion district from the looks of it, it makes for and interesting walk around and is good for photography. Taiwan feels indeed very different from China and I would say it reminded me more of Seoul than any city in China.

In the evening, I went to the National Taiwan Democracy Hall (or Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall) to take some pictures. They had a protest going on with some very nice live music. It was very nice and as usual in this part of the world, people were relaxed and enjoyed the music.

After going to the flower and jade markets tomorrow, I will be heading down South to Kaoshiung for the weekend.