Easter 2011: Taiwan - Part 1

So, welcome to our extra special update of the blog, full of Easter(n) promise, detailing our travels across the self-proclaimed "Heart of Asia" - Taiwan. (If it is the heart of Asia, then the blood it pumps must be Taipei positive! Hioooo!) Anyway, we only had about 7 days to travel over Easter, so we thought places like China or Indonesia would be too big to conquer, and better left for another time. But Taiwan was just right! We didn't get to see the whole country of course, but a week was a good amount of time to spend there.

Previously known as Formosa, which (as well as being a really cool name) comes from the Portugese for "beautiful", and it certainly was that. For the most part though, you'll have to take a step outside the big cities to find this beauty, and head towards, not only the island's natural wonders, but also its traditional ways.

So, we set off from HK on the 21st of April aboard our EVA Air flight to Taipei. And even though the flight was only like 90mins long, we were still served a meal and had our own personal TVs! We were delighted! I guess we're just used to using cheapy cheap airlines like Ryanair and Air Asia...

(Side note: We just finished watching Lost recently, so as we were flying, I was half-thinking (and strangely hoping...) that we'd crash on some strange island. We'd be like the opposite of Jin and Sun surrounded by all these Asians!)

Anyway, (unfortunately...) we arrived safely in Taipei and made our way to our hostel. Seeing as we only had a week in Taiwan, we really wanted to make the most of our time, so we ended up going on day-trips to different places pretty much everyday. First up was Wulai, an aboriginal mountain town around 40mins from Taipei, famous for its natural hot springs. When we got off the bus, we took a steep stroll up to a nearby waterfall, the surroundings of which were all decorated with aboriginal art. It was really very nice.

There was also a cable car that brought you further up into the mountains, above the waterfall, to some sort of... I don't even know how to describe it. It was like an abandoned holiday park, that wasn't yet abandoned... if that makes any sense...? There were lots of things there, an obstacle course, a swimming pool, amusement rides, a ghost train etc., but they were all either shut down or ridiculously unkempt!

As you can see, we tackled the obstacle course, despite the slightly worrying warning signs...

We also had a go on the ghost train, which I think was the only ride actually open. It was comically bad. But so bad, that it was actually a lot of fun! I guess it was fitting that the ghost train was the only thing open, seeing as the whole place was like a ghost town itself...

Afterwards, we got a miniature log train back down to the town centre and took a wander along the river side, by the famous hot springs. We were planning on taking a dip ourselves, but we felt a bit out of place, being the only Westerners around, and the only people under 70... It was actually really cool though, and there was something very wholesome about the place. It seemed to be a real social hotspot (pardon the pun) for the locals, popping down to the river to soak in the hot springs, what better way to spend your evenings!

We got the bus back to Taipei that evening and got massive burgers for dinner! And when I say massive, I mean MASSIVE! It was nearly the size of my head!

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast in a nearby bakery, and set off on another day-trip, this time to Yeliu. (Even though we spent our first two nights in Taipei, we didn't actually get to see any of the city until the day before we flew home!)

We hopped on a bus to Keelung, dumped our bags in the lockers at the bus station, and then on to Yeliu, a town on the coast, famous for its strange rock formations. It was really nice there actually, something different, which is always good.

There were about 20 different rock formations to enjoy, which apparently all looked like things. A lot of them didn't at all... (in fact I'm sure we walked past some without even noticing). Although having said that, there were some really good ones! The Dragon's Head was the most impressive and our personal fave, even though it wasn't the most famous.

The most famous was by far The Queen's Head, which is a bit of a landmark here in Yeliu. There was even a queue of people lining up to take pictures with it. It was cool alright, but we still think The Dragon's Head was better...

The only other one worth mentioning was The Fairy Shoe. It was a cool place overall though, and definitely worth the visit!

After Yeliu, we got a bus back to Keelung, grabbed our bags and jumped on another bus to our next destination, Jiufen. (It was all go-go-go for the week, but we really organised our time well to maximise what we got to see!)

And so, Jiufen... the highlight of our trip I'd say. When we got off the bus, it just seemed like your regular, run of the mill mountain town. But when you veer off the main road and onto Jishan Street, it's like stepping into a different world completely. The narrow streets pull you into the heart of the place and walking by food stalls, tea houses and traditional craft shops, with lanterns lighting the way overhead, it's hard to even tell what century you're in! (Although that illusion was broken somewhat when they started playing Johnny Logan in our hostel...).

As it's such a small town, there was very little in terms of accommodation. One of the few places we did manage to find online, did happen to have a website, although it was all in Chinese... so I had to use my best Mandarin to email them booking a room, with the help of Google translate of course! And when I say "with the help of", I mean "based entirely on"... (It's not our fault though, they don't speak Mandarin in Hong Kong! Having said that, we don't have any Cantonese either...).

We got ourselves settled, took a wander around, and then, the next day, we set off on another day trip! This time not too far away, just down the road to the nearby town of Jinguashi, the former gold mining capital of Taiwan. And boy do they make the most of that reputation! Everything in the town is golden this or golden that... We did have a really good day there though! We started off with the Gold Ecological Park, and had a look at the various things on offer. It was a beautiful day too, which made it a lot more enjoyable, and because the town is in the mountains, there was fantastic scenery all around to savour. The park actually made up most of Jinguashi itself, so we spent most of our time there, hiking up and down the hills and taking in the local landmarks, like the Shinto Shrine,

And Teapot Mountain (they really have a passion for naming rocks after things here).

Outside of the park, we hired a taxi to take us around to the other wonders of Jinguashi (there were actually quite a few!). We first went to the "Golden Waterfall", which was awesome! Or rather Au-some! (a little periodic table joke there... ahem...) But actually, despite the name, it gets its colour from the copper in the rocks. I guess the "Copper Waterfall" isn't as catchy, or in keeping with the theme of the town...

It was a really beautiful spot though, with the array of different colours all around, and there was a nice little viewing platform too, where you can take it all in.

Next we followed the winding river down to where it enters the Yin Yang Sea, (I'm sure you can see from the picture where it got its name).

When we looked down on it from up in the mountains earlier on in the day, we thought it was pollution flowing into the sea, but no, it turns out it's just the golden colour from the river! It's really cool actually, not something you see every day. And down where the river meets the sea, all the rocks have been dyed a rusty orange too. It's probably one of the most naturally colourful towns we've seen!

And literally 100 metres behind where this photo was taken, is another one of Jinguashi's landmarks, the Shuinandong Smelting Plant, well, what's left of it...

This was one of the highlights of Jinguashi for me. I don't know why, but I love to see buildings taken back by nature, just like Ta Prohm in Cambodia. It's got a very post-apocalyptic feel to it!

Last up for our day in Jinguashi was a quick trip down the road to the "Nanya Peculiar Stones", it's only worth noting for the name really. It was nothing like Yeliu or anything like that, it was just a small area along the coast, where the rocks were... slightly misshapen, that's it. We did end up with lots of photos there though, not because we were eager to get pictures of ourselves with these rocks, it was our taxi driver. He insisted on taking photos of us in front of everything! We didn't even ask him!

And so that was our day in Jinguashi. We got the bus back to Jiufen (only about 10 mins away), and spent the rest of the evening walking along Jishan Street, checking out the market stalls, and I even tried some traditional food! Well, it was ice cream... but not as we know it! It some sort of weird ice cream wrap. (I apologise in advance for the poor description). Ok, so it's basically a very thin pancake, covered with a layer of peanut shavings, two scoops of ice cream and topped off with... I'm not actually sure. I've tried looking it up online. Some say watercress, some say coriander, either way, things that should never go with ice cream!

But having said that, it was actually really nice! Ice cream and green stuff, who'd a thunk it! A match made in heaven!

We also got back just in time to watch the sunset over Jiufen. We're clocking up a fair amount of beautiful sunsets on our travels!

The next day, our last one in Jiufen, we tackled Mount Jilong, a 588m high peak, with lovely views over Jiufen and Jinguashi. It was a bit of a steep climb, and extra tough under the hot sun, but we made it to the top in about 45 mins. It was very quiet actually. We passed some people on the way up, but that was about it. We like to think we were the only ones tough enough to brave the climb! When we reached the top, we ended up just lazing about for a while, checking out the views and of course, taking our, now customary, jumping shot.

That mini-tripod is the best investment I ever made!

We went to see a local temple as well before we left, and it was actually incredible, with great views, but I can't find the name of it anywhere... oh well!

And that was pretty much it for our time in Jiufen! And for part 1 of the Taiwan blog. Hopefully it won't take as long to write the second part... eek!

Best of South East Asia

And now it's the fun part, the awards ceremony! We made some predictions as we flew out of Ireland as to what places we thought we'd enjoy the most. And as we flew into Hong Kong, we decided what the winners actually were. So, here are the top three places in each category!

Best City

3rd: Battambang

2nd: Koh Tao

1st: Bagan

Best Country

3rd: Thailand

2nd: Cambodia

1st: Myanmar

Best Food & Drink

3rd: Bangkok

2nd: Bagan

1st: Koh Tao

 Best Accommodation

3rd: Golden Mango - Siem Reap

2nd: Rikitikitavi - Kampot

1st: Kumudara - Bagan

Best Cultural Experience

3rd: Singapore

2nd: Cambodia

1st: Myanmar

Best Temple

3rd: Phnom Banan - Battambang

2nd: Ta Prohm - Siem Reap

1st: Pyathada Paya - Bagan

Best Tourist Activity

3rd: Boat from Battambang to Siem Reap

2nd: Circular train - Yangon

1st: Koh Nang Yuan - Koh Tao

 Nicest People

3rd: Thailand

2nd: Cambodia

1st: Myanmar

So there you have it, an overwhelming victory for Myanmar, winning 6 out of the 8 categories, and finishing 2nd in the other two! Not bad seeing as we actually only spent 4 days there. Definitely a place we'll be visiting again.

We also did a "Worst of" list, but we can't actually find it... I'm sure you can fill in the blanks yourself though, Phuket, Phuket, Phuket...

14th Stop: Penang

Here we are, our final destination. Six incredible weeks of travelling finally reaching its climax, so it would only be fitting to save the best for last, right? And then there was Penang...

Not that it was the worst, it was just, well... nothing! Even now, I'm struggling to remember what we actually did there! And flicking through the pictures isn't really helping much. For most of our other destinations, it was a matter of, "aww, we're not going to be able to fit in all of these great photos...", but here it's more like, "aww... we've no great photos!". I'll try to keep this entry as quick and painless as possible, but if you've got something better to do, don't waste your time here. We really did nothing!

So anyway, we flew into Penang from Singapore, via KL, on the 16th of December (that's how far behind I am in the blog!). When we arrived at the hostel it was quite late, so we just dumped our stuff and found something to eat nearby. We had spent the day travelling and also each had interviews the next morning for jobs in Hong Kong, so after dinner we just ended up having an early night.

We woke up bright and early the next morning and made our way to a local internet cafe for our interviews with Dramatic English, a teaching company in HK. It was the first time for both of us, having an interview over the phone, a very strange experience, but a successful one, seeing as we are both currently working for them!

After the interviews, we took a wander up to Komtar Shopping Centre for lunch, and I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant we actually chose, as it was the single worst place I've ever eaten in. Everything was wrong with it, the food, the drink, the service, the staff, it was rubbish! (I actually do have a picture of the food, but I don't want to pollute my blog with that pile of crap!

That evening we ended up going back to Komtar again to go to the cinema (The Social Network, quite good we thought...) We had to leave the hostel anyway as it was being sprayed for dengue fever, whatever that is...? As we were walking back to the hostel though afterwards, we saw a massive queue going round the block. Naturally we were intrigued as to what they were queuing for. It turns out it some outdoor food stall, or hawker stall as they call them. We figured it must be pretty good if this many people are lining up, so we decided to go there for dinner the following night.

And we have a picture!!!

We strolled back to the hostel and as we got to our room, we were witness to a horrific murder!
The victim: Music. The culprit: The karaoke club next door. It was horrendous! We had to lie in bed while being aurally assaulted by disgraceful, Malaysian renditions of Last Christmas. Not how we had envisaged spending the second last night of our travels...

The next day, we grabbed some lunch in Pizza Hut (we decided to stick with something we could trust!), and then jumped in a taxi to Penang Hill. On the way, our taxi driver treated us to some really stellar advice, like when Aisling told him that she had a degree in law, he said "The thing about being a lawyer is that you have to study the law and apply it in different situations...". You heard it here first people! It's things like this we should be learning in college! I told her to make sure to be writing down these nuggets of wisdom, it's a lot to take in at once!

We finally got to Penang Hill, only to find out that it was closed for construction. A hill. Closed for construction! We presumed there was some mistake, so we walked around looking for another way up, but no, it was actually closed! I still don't understand it...

Going to Penang Hill was our big plan for the day, so after that fell through, we were at a bit of a loose end for the evening. We got a bus back into Georgetown and decided to go shopping instead, as I needed to get new shoes anyway. And indeed I did get shoes! Converse of all things! I never thought I'd see the day. And I got a nice stripy t-shirt for myself too! So, a successful shopping trip! And on the way back, we decided to get dinner in that uber-popular hawker stall. It actually turns out that it was all Muslim food. (We probably should've guessed from the big mosque in the background...)

Again, the queue was massive, but again, that's surely a good sign! We were probably waiting for about half an hour, and as we neared the front of the queue, we started to panic! Neither of us knew what we wanted or what they had, and we were very conscious of the large queue now formed behind us. We didn't want to get to the front and be like, "Emm... what's that? Ok... and what's this? Ah, and what's that again....?"

In the end, we just played it safe and asked for anything they had with beef or chicken. And in fairness it was very nice, but it was wicked spicy!

And that was pretty much it for our time in Penang! The next morning we got on a bus to KL, grabbed our stored luggage and flew off to our new home, Hong Kong. And so ends our trip around South East Asia! Or should I say, part 1 of our trip - we're planning on fitting in a few more countries over the summer and some more again before we head back to Ireland. In fact, we're actually going to Taiwan in a few days for the Easter holidays! (I'll try to update the blog a bit sooner this time...)

But that's not all folks! The next entry in the blog is a "Best of", taking into account all the places we've visited so far, and giving our top three in a few different categories. (Don't worry, it's mostly pictures, I swear!)

13th Stop: Singapore

Singapore, Singapore, is it a city or is it a country? Who knows! Either way, it couldn't have been more different from the Asia we'd seen so far. This ultra-clean, ultra-modern metropolis was a far, far cry from the sweaty streets of Bangkok, or the floating, straw villages of Cambodia. We had to double check our maps to make sure we hadn't accidentally stumbled into the wrong continent!

Singapore has a reputation of being a bit of a police state, where you get heavily fined for pretty much everything! There's absolutely no littering, no chewing gum, no smoking in most places, no jaywalking, no spitting, no drugs, the list goes on. You're not even allowed pirate DVDs!

Don't even think about it!

When we arrived, we headed straight for the hostel, The Travellers Inn. Accommodation here is a bit more expensive than the rest of SE Asia, so we just went for the most basic place we could find. It was grand though, clean and centrally enough located. All of the rooms in the hostel were named after planets too, instead of just being numbered, how exciting! It was just like the hostel we stayed at in Bratislava over the summer, where each room was named after, and decorated like, a different city. And so what planet did we end up staying on?? ....Earth. What a disappointment. True to its name though, the room was far from being 'out of this world'. You could barely open the door, the room was so small. Still, we were only in Singapore for two nights, so we just needed somewhere to throw our bags and sleep.

After we got settled, we went for a wander around, and as it was less than two weeks til Christmas, the whole city was just one big winter wonderland! It was spectacular! The most impressively decorated place I've ever seen! (Then again, I've never spent Christmas outside of Cork before, so it didn't have too much competition...)

We took a stroll around Orchard Road, got some ice cream and then jumped on a free open-top bus ride around the city to see all the lights. All in all, we had a great night!

The next morning we got free breakfast in the hostel, well, free toast, and booked tickets for the Night Safari in Singapore Zoo. That morning we were also greeted by an enormous cockroach in our room. It really was massive, the size of your thumb! So much for being the cleanest city in the world... ah no, that's unfair, it actually was spotless apart from that.

That afternoon we hopped on a bus (several buses actually) to the MacRitchie Reservoir, a big foresty kinda national park. It had a pretty cool suspension bridge over the forest canopy too, although it was a mighty long walk up to it!

We spent most of the afternoon hiking around the park (half of that time was spent actually looking for the exit...), and when we got back to the city, we headed to the Fountain of Wealth, the biggest fountain in the world!!!

.....only to discover that it was turned off. How disappointing! Apparently it's turned off three times a day so visitors can walk around the centre. Pfft! What's the point in going to see the world's biggest fountain if it's not even turned on?! It's like going to see... emmm.... (I actually spent about 10 minutes trying to think up a witty simile, but failed miserably!)

Next we paid a visit to the "Merlion", a big tourist attraction here on the marina. It's, as the name suggests, some sort of half lion, half mermaid hybrid. (But isn't a mermaid half woman, half fish? So surely the merlion is just half lion, half fish...?) Anyway, the merlion itself was pretty cool, but the surrounding marina was one of the most unbelievable sights I've ever seen, and yes, I do mean unbelievable in every sense of the word! It looks like it's a Salvador Dali painting come to life!

Yep, that's right, there's a lion with the body of a mermaid shooting water from its mouth. Oh, and what's that in the background? Just an ocean liner resting on top of three skyscrapers. And what are those things floating in the water? Ok, thousands of white beach balls, is it... It was unreal though! Or rather, surreal... It's a shame it was quite gloomy that day, I can only imagine what it would look like with blue skies. (And that picture wasn't taken in black and white, by the way, it just really was that dull and grey...).

That night then it was time for the Night Safari, which is apparently the world's first nocturnal zoo. It was pretty cool actually, you jump on a tram which takes around the open air grounds of the park, and you get to see the animals walking around, having a laugh and all that jazz.

Sorry for the poor camera work, we obviously weren't allowed flash photography. (It's an elephant...)

We also went to an animal show there, (all it was was otters picking up rubbish and putting it in the bin...), but the highlight was most certainly the fat kid they got up on stage as a volunteer. He was doing everything in his power to be as uncooperative as possible! He really stole the show!

Oh also, there was a snake under our seat for the whole thing! I mean literally, a real snake, underneath our seat! They had this bit in the performance where apparently there was a snake on the loose in the audience, so the presenters were running through the crowd, causing a big commotion, looking for it. And so we were like "yeah yeah, snake in the crowd, oh no..." But it was underneath us the whole time! What are the odds?!

And that was pretty much it for our brief stay in Singapore. It's definitely somewhere I'd like to go back to again in the future though! Next up is our final destination, Penang!