Summer 2011 - 3rd Stop: Ubud & Bedugul

Ubud! The place where we spent the longest stint of our holiday, and probably the best spot we could have chosen to do it! It's just a really nice town, with a lovely laid back atmosphere. Everything in the place has a real traditional feel to it, and although there were lots of tourists around, it didn't feel at all touristy, if that makes any sense... It's one of Bali's largest towns, but it doesn't feel like it at all. It has the heart of a small village, just bigger!

We rolled into town on the night of the 5th at the second attempt, (our first taxi broke down on the dual carriage way), and settled in to our new accommodation, Nick's Pension, a really beautiful set of traditional Balinese cottages, nestled in the countryside, but still right in the heart of the action. It was impossible not to feel immediately at ease.

Our first day in Ubud was just a lazy one, as we recharged our batteries. We'd been going from place to place for the last few days, so it was kinda nice not having a schedule. We could just go at our own pace. And what better place to do it than by the pool, surrounded by rice terraces! We really felt at home there, and sure why wouldn't we?! A couple of Paddies amongst the paddies!

The next day we decided to be productive again, so we hired a driver and hit the sights of Ubud, including the temples of Goa Gaja, Gunung Kawi and Tirta Empul to name but a few, and donning a different coloured sarong at each one!

Afterwards, we went to a coffee plantation, where we were given free samples of locally produced drinks, such as Bali Coffee, Cocoa, Lemongrass Tea, Ginger Tea and Ginseng Coffee. Some of them were surprisingly good and it’s always nice to get stuff for free! It was one of those deals though that you’re given free samples and then expected to buy packets of the stuff to take home, but we just kinda drank and ran!

This place also produces Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world I think. For those of you who’ve never heard of it before, these coffee beans get their unique flavour by being eaten by wild cats, and then, well, pooped out, collected and brewed. Mmmm…! And it’s €5 for a small cup of this stuff (presumably a lot more when bought overseas). Needless to say, we didn’t really fancy a cuppa. We’re not big coffee drinkers at the best of times, never mind paying 5 quid to drink it out of a cat’s arse!

While we were there too, sampling the local beverages, we had a chat with our driver, which was good fun. Actually, when we first told him we were from Ireland, he said:

“Ireland? Oh, like Robikan!”

“Like what…?

“Robikan! The footballer!”

“…Ooohh, Robbie Keane! Yes!”

“Yes! And his brother, Roykan!”

"......"

He invited us to a local dance he was performing in that night too, and we would have loved to have gone, but we were just too hungry and tired by the end of the day. And we had another tour planned for the next morning too, this time it was trekking through the jungles of Ubud.

There were meant to be 16 people on the tour, but in the end it was just us and a Swiss couple, which actually worked out better as we could take our time a bit more. It was a really nice, chilled out day. We got to see some really cool rice terraces, explored some jungle paths and Balinese cottages, and even stopped along the way for a nice coconut break, fresh from the tree!

In this tour, we stopped off once again at a coffee plantation. We were dreading that it would be the same one as yesterday, in case they thought we were just coming back again for free samples… Thankfully it wasn’t, so we could try out some more drinks, guilt free! And while we were there, we also tried out some new fruit. (It’s weird, when it comes to food, I always hate trying new things, but not when it comes to fruit for some reason!) We had a piece of salak, often called snakeskin fruit, which was delicious! It tastes kinda like a strawberry but dryer. And also, a tamarillo, which wasn’t nice at all, kinda like a mix between a tomato and a kiwi.

In other fruit related news, at the plantation we also saw where pineapples come from! I always imagined them hanging from palm trees, like coconuts or something, but it turns out they grow from the ground up! Who knew?!

We finished up the day by having a buffet dinner overlooking Lake Bayan and the surrounding area. It was an amazing view and the food was lovely too, so a nice way to end the day.

Actually, the day wasn’t quite over yet. When we got back to the hostel, we chilled out by the pool for a while, or rather, I chilled out by the pool, Aisling had other ideas…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39lbKTs5HOU

And so, onto our last day in Ubud, a quite cultural one really. In fact, a very cultural one, starting with a lovely Balinese massage and topped off with a traditional Kecak dance in a nearby temple. The performance was very memorable and it was a pleasure to experience the music and rhythm of it all, especially in these surroundings.

The next day we had to wave goodbye to Ubud, (a serious contender for best destination) and head north to our next stop, Bedugul, a simple mountain town on the banks of Lake Bratan. And although it’s only a small place, and not exactly a tourist hotspot, it really stole our heart. They’re mad for their fruit and veg here too, from the countless stalls along the roadside selling fresh strawberries, to the women walking around with bucket of corn on their heads! Even take a look at the town’s main roundabout!

We had a great couple of days here though, and a lot of that is down to our accommodation, The Strawberry Hill Hotel (even if we did get stuck in the ‘Loser’ cottage…)

We also found out that you could get food delivered to your room, so guess where we had all of our meals!

Our first day in town was a lazy one, as we just walked around the lakeside and stocked up on salaks and strawberries at the local market. We more than made up for our lack of activity the next morning though, by visiting the place that brought us to Bedugul in the first place, the Treetop Adventure Park! It was so much fun! One of the highlights of the whole trip for me, climbing through the trees, across high wires and down ziplines. Here’s an artists impression of what it was like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxDKzHg_1e0

We arrived pretty much as soon as it opened, so we had the place to ourselves, no queues, no whiny kids and the full attention of the instructors. Some of the courses were really challenging too, testing your balance and upper body strength. It was like being on Gladiators, just with more trees, and less giant foam hands…

We were able to do everything though first time, so we felt pretty good about ourselves! And afterwards we watched some macho Australian douchebag try and fail at the course, which made us feel even better! It was a great place though, and I’d love to visit somewhere similar again in the future.

After the park, we took a stroll down to Lake Bratan to see the Ulun Danu Temple. We even hired a swan boat to paddle around the lake. In fact, you can see our third video diary here! On a boat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9lnNrsLGco

It was a really nice temple too, and we had a good paddle around, if only it wasn’t so cloudy…

We stocked up on salaks before heading back up to the hotel, (Seriously, I can’t get enough of them! They’re fast becoming my favourite fruit! I had about 4 or 5 as soon as we got back to our room. I really hope we can buy them in HK…)

And that was pretty much that for our time in Bedugul, and in Bali as a whole. The next day we got on a bus to Denpasar, and flew out to our next stop and the next island along, Lombok, for some much needed beach time!

Summer 2011 - 2nd Stop: Bromo & Ijen

In this entry, you're going to get two for the price of one! Mount Bromo and the Ijen Crater, two volcanoes and two equally amazing, although very different experiences. So including Mount Merapi, that's three volcanoes in four days! We've definitely exceeded our volcanic quota for this holiday anyway, and probably for the rest of our lives!

As I finished up last time, we had just signed up to a tour package for the next few days and were about to set off on an 11 hour minibus ride to Mount Bromo. And lucky us, we got to sit up front with the driver, who spent the entire journey spitting, burping and throwing rubbish out the window. Not to mention the zero leg-room and the incessant beeping at anything in front of us. So that was a fun trip! Having said that, the 11 hours actually went by pretty quickly, and we did stop a couple of times to get food and mini bottles of coke.

We arrived in Ngadisari (a small mountain village and our home for the night) at around 8pm and pretty much went to bed straight away as we were wrecked after our journey and also had to be up at half 3 the next morning to see the sunrise over Bromo (and this time we actually did get to see the sunrise!). 

Now, when we were packing for our holidays, we thought to ourselves, 'Indonesia, that's on the equator so it's probably gonna be roasting. We won't need to bring warm clothes...', but of course we overlooked the possibility of climbing volcanic peaks in the middle of the night! Rookie mistake. And so, unsurprisingly, when we stepped out of our mountain cabin at 3:30am, it was absolutely freezing! I luckily had a hoodie with me, and a French family that were travelling with us (who strangely had no English at all), gave Aisling a jumper to wear, so at least we had something. We were still frozen though...

Just a side note though before I go on, everyone here is French! Everyone! I'd say about 95% of the tourists we've met so far in Java have been from France! We can't understand it!

Anyway, we were driven by jeep about halfway up Mount Penanjakan, a nearby peak with a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape, and then made our way to the top by foot. It was a steep climb up, and a long wait in the cold and dark for the sun to rise, but it was worth it all ten times over for the view. It was out of this world, and I mean that quite literally! It looked like the surface of the moon or Mars or something!

It doesn't even look real! It was so far removed from anything we had seen before. What an incredible sight, we couldn't get enough of it! Serious Bromo-sexuals right here!

After the viewing area, we were driven down to the heart of the landscape seen above, and to the base of the Mount Bromo crater itself, and seeing as it had erupted as recently as this February, the whole area was completely covered in fine ash. 

I could make a joke about me also being covered in fine Ais, but that would just be cheap and tasteless, so I wont... 

The climb up felt just like walking through the desert as each step sank beneath your feet, but again it was worth it for, not only the surrounding view, but also a peek inside the smoking crater. Probably quite dangerous though, standing on the slippery, ash-covered rim of a volcano that erupted less than 6 months ago...

Some people chose to take the quick and easy route back down to the bottom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZvItoOLgdk

But we descended in a more dignified manner. On a horse!!! Ok, it was barely even a horse, my feet were nearly touching the ground, but it was kinda cool trekking across this ashy desert. I felt like some sort of volcanic nomad!

And that was pretty much it for our brief visit to Mount Bromo! We went back to the hostel, got some breakfast (consisting of green bread and mini bananas), got our bags and hopped on another minibus headed east to the Ijen Crater. This time we made sure to grab good seats on the minibus (lots of leg room and right by the AC) and so we just snoozed our way through the 7 hour journey.

When we arrived in Sempol (a quaint little village in the middle of nowhere) it was still quite early, so we went for a small wander to the nearby waterfall (which we couldn't find) and the local hot springs (which we could!), and after a refreshing dip, we were all ready for dinner back at the hostel! They really put on a great spread too, with plates and plates of stuff brought to our table - chicken, rice, noodles, omlette rolls, fried potatoey things, watermelon and lots more too! And it was all surprisingly tasty! And then yet another early night, as we'd be up before the sun again the next morning.

We were dropped off at the base of the volcano with a steep 90 minute climb ahead of us to the top. It was seriously tough going too, especially as the air thinned with the increasing altitude, but the anticipation of the views from above spurred us on every step of the way, and we weren't disappointed.

We spend our whole lives looking up at the clouds, so it's a strange feeling looking down on them from above. It was such a different landscape too compared to the lunar plains of Bromo. And there was even a sharp contrast of sights on offer at the peak of Ijen itself. On one side you had green mountain tops poking through a heavenly sea of clouds, and as you turned around, there was a barren crater filled with a steaming, turquoise sulphuric lake.

Sulphur seemed to be a big business in the volcano. As we made the climb up, we'd see people carrying baskets of it over each shoulder, huge yellow blocks of it. And then in the crater itself, there seemed to be a mining camp on the surface of the lake. It must be a tough job though; carrying baskets of the stuff up and down the mountain all day long. And worst of all was the smell! A real deep eggy smell! And we were only on the crater's edge, I can only imagine what it was like by the lakeside. I wouldn't be able to hack it, but these guys just have to sulphur in silence! Well, I guess it's all for the crater good!

We stayed up there for well over an hour, exploring, taking in the views and also making another video diary! Look, here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy0t2WvEKiU

We eventually had to say goodbye to this stunning panorama and to Java as a whole, as we strolled back down to catch our bus/ferry to Bali. And that also meant the end of our little tour package. It was well worth it though, not just for the price but more so the convenience of it all. The tour had also saved us a day on our planned schedule, so we had a day to kill before heading to our next destination, Ubud. We decided to spend that day in Legian, a town in the south of Bali. We hadn't intended on spending any time in that part of the island as we heard it was quite touristy (it definitely was, and all Australians! We had gone from France to Australia in the space of a few hours!). The only reason we went there was to go to a waterpark the next day!

And what a fun day we had! There really is nothing better than a good waterpark, especially when you're in Bali, under the hot sun and tropical trees! So we stayed there for pretty much the whole day, going on the rides, hanging out in the pool, tanning ourselves (or rather, burning ourselves) under the sun, and even having a few games of table tennis, which Aisling was surprisingly good at! Not as good as me though obviously...

We really had a great day though. And then onto our next destination, and our home for the next 5 days, the cultural heart of Bali, Ubud!

Summer 2011 - 1st Stop: Yogyakarta

So, here we are, on our second round of travels around South East Asia! Our first 6 weeks of travelling came as we left Ireland, before our big Hong Kong adventure, and obviously lots has happened since then, but that’s a story for another day… Right now, it’s August and we’ve both got the month off, so we’ve hit the road again! This time heading further south to Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo and Brunei. So, I guess I’ll take it from the start, South East Asia, Part 2!

We set off for Indonesia in a kind of round about way. Our first port of call was Yogyakarta, on the island of Java, but we had to go first via Singapore and then Jakarta. It was the easiest/cheapest way possible. So, we left HK on the morning of the 29^th for our first flight to Singapore with Tiger Airways. We had a 4 hour stop over there (which was a good thing as the plane was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes) and then onto Jakarta (again the flight was delayed, this time by an hour and a half!). It was our first time flying with Tiger Airways, and hopefully our last, they’re rubbish.

One good thing about the flight though, there was a guy dressed up in swimming gear who made an announcement that it was his birthday and got everyone on board to sing happy birthday for him! It was good fun, although I’m sure most people were still focused on the 90 minute delay…

Having said that, the delay actually didn’t affect us at all, as our connecting flight to Yogyakarta wasn’t til 6am the next morning, and we were planning on just sleeping at the airport anyway. So, we grabbed our bags, picked a spot for the night and settled in.

It certainly wasn’t the nicest of airports to spend the night, it was noisy, hot and crowded, and with nowhere comfortable to bed down, everything you’d expect really. But we made it through the night, getting some bit of sleep at least, while managing not to get robbed too, which is always a bonus!

And so we awoke at 4am to check in for our flight, or at least what we thought was 4am… (we didn't realise we were actually in a different time zone). Luckily though, we had gained an hour instead of losing one, so it was actually 3am. That could’ve been disastrous… Still though, as we were up we thought we might as well find out where we should be checking in, and it’s a good thing we had that extra hour, we needed it! Jakarta is the most poorly organised airport I’ve ever been in, (even Bagan was 100 times better run, and they didn’t have TV screens or conveyor belts!).

We walked up and down the airport and couldn’t see our flight info anywhere, so we just enquired with the attendant at the first check-in area, D1. He told us our flight would be at area D2, so we thanked him and moved down to D2… where we were told that actually we should go to F4… so we went to F4, which was closed. It did have a full list of flights though… none of which was ours. So, we went back to D2, to make sure that it definitely was at F4, and that there definitely WASN’T another terminal at the airport. We were told no, definitely F4, so we returned to F4 and waited for it to open. When it did open, we were told we needed to go to terminal 3. Terminal 3?! Since when is there a terminal 3?! Sigh…

We jumped in a taxi and made our way 2km down the road to the ultra clean, quiet and modern terminal 3. Why oh why didn’t we sleep here…? (We also saw Jacob from Lost in the lobby!)

Well, not actually him, but it looked like it!


At last, we found our flight and jetted off to Yogyakarta (or Jogja, as it is known), where we could finally start enjoying our holiday! Or maybe not…

When we arrived in Jogja, we got our bags and made our way out to the lobby, where we were due to be collected by our hostel… but there was nobody there. We waited for a good half an hour, but nothing. And because we thought we were being collected, we didn’t bother to write down the address, or phone number, and there wasn’t any internet in the airport… We asked some taxi drivers could they take us there, but none of them had ever heard of the place! Hmm… shit. The only option we had was to get a taxi to take us to an internet café, look up the address of the hostel, and then get dropped off there. So, we did all of that, got the address, got directions, even got GPS coordinates, and still we barely found it! We knew the exact geographic position on the surface of the Earth, and still the place almost eluded us! That’s how far out of the way our hostel was! It was apparently only 5 mins from the city centre, bullshit! More like 20 mins and in the middle of nowhere! Still, at that point we just needed a bed, so we took a well earned nap and then reassessed the situation.

We said we’d head into the city centre to see what it was like, so we asked the hostel to call a taxi for us. After about 20mins of waiting, we enquired again, only to be told that no taxi could find them… where the hell were we?! And how is this place even in business?! They said they could give us a lift in though, on the back of a motorbike, one by one… We had no other choice really so I went first - a 20 minute bike ride, 20 minutes of waiting for him to return for Aisling, and then another 20 while he dropped her in... we really couldn't do this every time we wanted to go into the city centre! So, as soon we were reunited again, we checked into a new hostel. We had no other choice really. We returned to the old place, got our bags and vowed never to speak of it again (with the help of our driver from that morning, probably the only man in Jogja who knew where the place was!). It was a really tough start to the holiday, and when that happens you always think 'will the whole thing be like this?', but we dusted ourselves down, drew a line under everything and took it back to the beginning. After a nap of course!


So, feeling refreshed and reinvigorated, we started our holiday in Jogja again! We went out to get some dinner but on the way we bumped into Herman, a travel agent who kept trying to sell me tour packages earlier as I waited for Ash. He wouldn't leave me alone then, so I took his number and said I'd call him later, just to get rid of him, but now he'd found me again, what are the odds?! At first, when he came running towards us, calling my name, I thought, 'oh no, not him...', but this time he had a leaflet with all of their deals and prices, and they were actually pretty good! There were a few places in Java that we were planning on going to after Jogja, (Mount Bromo, Ijen etc.) but we weren't quite sure how we were going to get there (bus and train info here is pretty hard to find, and even harder to understand), but this guy had tours to all of these places in one cheap and easy little package! Plus, a ferry onto Bali after we were done! Suddenly Herman had something to offer. We said we'd look into it and ring him tomorrow, and this time we actually meant it! (He found us again after dinner, seriously, this guy in unstoppable, he's like the terminator! Or rather, the Hermanator!) That night we went to bed quite early as we had a whole host of activities organised through our hostel for the next day, starting with sunrise over Borobudur!

...even though the place didn't open til 6, at which point the sun was already up... Still though, it was nice seeing it just after sunrise at least, and it was pretty quiet at that time too. Borobudur is like the Indonesian Angkor Wat, and like Angkor, it looks much more impressive in the aerial shot. Don't get me wrong, it was lovely, but with a monument that big, I think you can only really appreciate it fully when you can see the whole thing.

Amazingly, it was built in the 8th century, but was abandoned around the 1300s and lay undiscovered beneath volcanic ash and jungle growth for almost 500 years! The fact that it remained hidden for so long, makes it all the more mysterious and appealing. And it is very impressive really, although an awful lot of restoration work has been done.


On the way in, we were given sarongs to wear, which would be a recurring theme for any temple we visited in Indonesia. Here's Aisling creatively sporting hers:

After Borobudur, we headed to Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano which last erupted in October, killing over 350 people. There are no major towns in the area, so there were no real Pompeii-esque ruins, but you could see the aftermath alright in terms of felled trees and scorched earth. Plant-life had started growing again though, and the locals had started to rebuild structures, but being honest, it's kinda pissing into the wind rebuilding your home next to the country's most active volcano...

Our last stop of the day was Prambanan, the Hindu answer to the Buddhist Borobudur. Built in the 9th century, it was similarly abandoned for years and heavily damaged by a 16th century earthquake. But like Borobudur, it has gone through heavy restoration, and really looks stunning today. Even better than Borobudur I'd say!

It was pretty quiet there too, even though it was a Sunday. We even found a nice secluded place round the back to chill out, take our customary jumping shot and also record our first video diary! So, if you want a 4 minute summary of everything I said so far, look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QgDoyVPfE

I probably should have put that at the beginning... It would have saved you a lot of reading... Oops!

Also, on the way in to Prambanan, we saw a guy dressed up as Dora the Explorer, and I've never seen a cartoon character look so depressed. He was just sitting on a chair under a tree, and every so often he'd make an attempt to act cheerful, but you could tell he was really dying inside. And it's funny because we were only talking recently about whether these suited characters are actually smiling themselves when posing for photos... this guy definitely wasn't.

When we got back to Jogja, we sorted out our trip for the next few days. As I said, we had planned to book it with Herman, but when I rang him there was no answer, so we just booked the same tour with someone else. Unlucky Herman! Actually, we were terrified of bumping into him again for the rest of the evening seeing as he always managed to find us... but we survived the rest of the day, and the next morning made a swift getaway to our next destination, Mount Bromo!

We only really had two days in Yogyakarta, and one of them was spent getting out of our accommodation mess, but we did enjoy our time here. The town itself isn't great, but it's a good hub to see the surrounding areas, Borobudur, Prambanan etc., so in that respect, it's well worth a visit.

Easter 2011: Taiwan - Part 2

Less than one week til our summer holidays, and I'm only just getting around to finishing the Easter blog! Sorry for the delay, I'll do my best to remember what actually happened...

So, when I last signed off we were just after leaving Jiufen, on route to our next destination, Hualien. (Actually, on the way there, in Ruifang train station, I bumped into a guy who works at my main school in HK. I guess it just goes to show that no matter where you are in the world, you'll meet someone you know, even in the arse end of Taiwan!) As we arrived in Hualien station, we were greeted by our hostel owner, Lisa, who was ready to whisk us away to our accommodation. The hostel was amazing, and Lisa really couldn't have been nicer to us in our time there. She was a star!

As soon as we got settled, she got her 14 year old brother (cousin...? nephew, maybe...?) to show us to a traditional Taiwanese restaurant and order our meals for us. It's a good thing too, as everything was completely in Mandarin, and nobody had any English, (throughout Taiwan actually, people had very little English, compared to the other places we'd been in Asia anyway). The food was only so-so, but funnily enough, since we came back to HK, we've had Taiwanese food a couple of times, so we do kinda like it!

The main reason we decided to come to Hualien in the first place though (in fact, the only reason...), was to see the nearby Taroko Gorge. So, the next morning, Lisa dropped us and two other English guys off at the station, and we jumped on a train to Xincheng, the jump off point for Taroko, and only one stop away. We were planning on renting bikes out for the day, to see the place a bit better, while taking in a bit of sunshine too, but when we got to the bike shop, they said they only had one left, between the four of us... Now, I wont go through the whole story, but they eventually found another one... then another two... then a shed full of about 20 bikes for us to use! It turns out the guy was just an idiot and didn't know what he was doing. So, we got our bikes and set sail for Taroko Gorge!

It's a huge area and a steep climb into the mountains, so most people just get a tour bus, and there were many occasions that day, as we trudged achingly uphill, that we regretted not doing the same... But we kept going, slowly but surely, and finally made it up to Tianxiang. We were very proud of ourselves. Although it was only 20km in terms of distance, it was almost a half a kilometre climb from the base, and cycling uphill is never fun...

There were a few nice Buddha statues and a lovely tower up in Tianxiang, so it was a perfect place to stop and relax. We were originally planning on continuing further up into the gorge to the Baiyang waterfall, but it was starting to get late at that stage, and, much like our mode of transport, we were two tyred! Hioooo!

As I said the climb up was tough, but the thing that got me through it was the thought that - the further up we go, the more fun it'll be to cycle back. And boy was it! There's nothing worse than cycling uphill, and nothing better than cycling back down! Especially when you're going downhill for close to 20km!! We could really appreciate the scenery more on the way back too, as we followed the river down through the gorge. It was (at the risk of making a blatantly obvious pun) absolutely gorge-ous!

And just look at the colour of the water!

We also had to take our customary jumping shot. I set up the tripod on the bike saddle, set the timer and just as it was about to flash, a bus load of elderly Taiwanese tourists passed by in front of us. Our expressions are a mix of jumping for joy and pure embarrassment.

And that was our day in Taroko. It was tough and tiring, but an extremely enjoyable day out. We returned the bikes and got the train back to Hualien. The only thing was though, as Lisa had collected us and dropped us to the station, we actually had no idea how to get to the hostel! We first tried to get a taxi, but as I said before, nobody had much English, so that didn't work. Actually, listen to this! When we got into the taxi, the driver was on the phone, so she just started driving, even though we didn't tell her where we wanted to go. About 30 seconds later she finished her conversation, and finally asked us where we were going. We told her, she didn't understand, so we got out. Yet she still wanted us to pay her! She wanted money for driving around in circles while talking on the phone!

We finally had to go into a tourist office and ask them to ring Lisa to come and get us. It felt like we were ringing our mom to collect us cause we missed the last bus home... As I said though, she couldn't have been more helpful. We got pizza for dinner that night, but were too tired after our day of cycling to do much else.

The next day we got up bright and early as we were planning on spending another day in Hualien. We quickly realised though, that there actually wasn't anything to do here... Like the other cities we passed through in Taiwan, it was quite dull and shabby, so we decided to just head back to Taipei early. It actually worked out quite well in the end as there were a few things we wanted to do in Taipei, and this gave us more time to do them! So, once again, Lisa dropped us off at the station and even helped us to buy our tickets, as we said goodbye to Hualien.

And back we were in Taipei, finally with enough time to actually see the place! Our flight home was the next evening, so we had just over 24 hours to spend on the city. First up was Longshan Temple, which was really nice and very different to most temples we had seen on our travels, in that, it was mostly filled with people praying, rather than hoards of tourists...

We also saw a rat swimming around in the fountain outside, which was mildly entertaining.

Our next stop, and our last of the day was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is probably the nicest thing in Taipei. We were there too as the sun was setting so it was nice that we got to see the place in daylight, and then all lit up at night.

The two buildings on the left and right are the national theatre and the national concert hall. I'm not sure which is which...

And then there's the memorial hall itself, which overlooks the square.

Taipei is quite a crowded city, so it was really nice to have this big open space right in the middle of it, especially with such beautiful buildings all around.

On our way back to the hostel, we saw the most amazing violinist in the subway station, video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puh-2UfPsJM

We stopped and listened to him for a few minutes, and even gave him some money. He didn't even acknowledge me though when I went up to drop it in his case, which I found pretty rude. We later realised he was blind... which kinda excuses the lack of acknowledgement, and also makes his violin skills all the more impressive.

The next day, and our last in Taiwan, we headed to the Beitou Hot Springs, which were only a few subway stops from Taipei city centre. They really have outdoor hot springs all over here! They were really cheap too and surprisingly busy seeing as we arrived just as it opened, but like it was in Wulai, we were the only people there under 70... I don't know what it is over here with old people and hot springs! They were very nice to us though, one old man even went out of his way to give me a demonstration on how to wash myself... that's a pleasant memory... Unsurprisingly, we don't have photos from the hot springs, but here's one from the metro station!

Each station actually had nice art and statues, in fact the metro system here was fantastic! Better even than Hong Kong's! The best bit was that they had a countdown timer in the lobby of each station telling you when the next train from each platform was leaving. They don't have that here in HK and it would be so handy... I know there's a new train every couple of minutes, but it would be nice to know exactly when it was coming in advance so you could walk a bit faster if necessary. I'm just saying...

Our last stop of the day was the world's second tallest building (formerly the tallest, damn you Dubai!), Taipei 101 which, cleverly enough, is 101 storeys high! Compare that to the Elysian, the tallest building in Ireland, which is 17 storeys. (In fact, I just realised that our apartment block in Hong Kong is taller than the Elysian... that's kinda sad...)

Taipei 101 is kinda hard to miss as it pretty much dominates the skyline. It really looks out of place too in the city, as nothing else even comes close! Hong Kong has the 4th tallest building in the world, but it doesn't exactly stand out cause all of the buildings are huge! We went up to the viewing platform, (on the world's fastest elevator may I add, they're really doing everything they can to get into the record books) but because the rest of the city is so flat, there really wasn't much to see... Yes, you could see for miles and miles, but it was just miles and miles of, well, nothing. It's definitely more impressive from the outside. And on that high point (baddum tish!), our time in Taiwan came to an end. We only had 8 days here, but we certainly got an awful lot done, and it's definitely a country I'd recommend seeing. Very different to most other places we've been.

And so, that's it! We're off to Indonesia in a few days, so I'll probably have the next blog up... next year! Peace out!

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!