Visit Taiwan in 14 days!

DAY 1 - 2: DEPARTED FROM SYDNEY, ARRIVED AT TAOYUAN AND HEADED STRAIGHT TO TAICHUNG





DAY 3 - SUN MOON LAKE

We woke up early and walked a little bit east from our Air BNB to Gancheng Station. On this day, we we went to have a day trip to SUN MOON LAKE. It was a good value to just buy a Sun Moon lake pass which costs hmm about 20 and it already includes discounted bike rental, boat trip across the lake, ropeway /cable car (return), round-the-lake bus. From Gancheng station, the Sun Moon lake bus departed at around 8 am.


DAY 4 - ALISHAN MOUNTAIN, CHIAYI and ARIVED in KAOSHIUNG at NIGHT


My fiance booked a really nice hotel (it is somewhat 5 star) named Holiday Garden Hotel in Kaoshiung. Although it look old from the outside, in the inside it is actually quite modern. There is also a swimming pool, which really added more fun to our time there because the 16 degree water in the pool really helped us coped with the hot 30 degree humid temperature in the morning!
DAY 5 - KAOSHIUNG CITY - Tiger and Dragon pagoda
We woke up to a really nice sound of bustling city, and steams from the breakfast places at every cornier of the street. We started the day by going to the breakfast place that's very close to our hotel. It is called Xing Long Ju! We had a meat mun, savoury soy milk with fry bread and scallions, fry bread with egg and pickle, then some cold sweet soymilk. I also had extra pastries with red bean, egg and chive buns from the other shop.
We then continue our journey to Dragon Tiger Pagoda, which is an easy bus train ride away to Zuoying station. The view from the lake, as well as when you climb the inside of the pagoda is quite nice. It can get very windy too inside. The entrance is free but there is a donation box in the front door and the person gives you a postcard in return.
DAY 6 - MORE of KAOSHIUNG AND THE OUTSKIRT
While still in Kaoshiung, we explored some more around the city. We took the bus to Fo Guang Shan temple which is located just outside Kaoshiung, in Dashu District. You can take the bus easily from the Kaoshiung station, or the Zuoying HSR station and at platform 5, get the bus direct to Fo Guang Shan.
The one place I want to recommend for dinner is this one called Tian Zhi Yu - Heaven Driven Vegan. We went here after our long day at the temple. We ordered some buns, vermicelli, and . They are all vegan and taste just as flavourful! Such a great way to end the day.
DAY 7 - TRAIN TO HUALIEN
This was the day when we had to depart early to Hualien and said goodbye to Kaoshiung :( we bought the train ticket and the train ride took about 5 hours. To prepare for this, we checked out early from the hotel and went straight to the station. We had breakfast from 7-eleven which is my mot favorite part, that is to eat all the sweet bread, sushi, snacks and tea eggs, plus the interesting kind of milk in carton. We also bought bento box from the Railway store for our lunch in the train.
DAY 8 - HUALIEN SIGHT SEEING
We stayed at Kindness Hotel in Hualien which i think is very nice! We were given coupons for breakfast and dinner! Plus, there are snack, soft serve, unlimited teas and coffee every afternoon that we can enjoy. Such a heaven and really worth your money! We also joined another tour from Klook, which was organized by a private tour company for Hualien sightseeing plus adventure walk in Taroko cave.
DAY 9 - TAROKO HIKE
This one was the hero of our Hualien trip and the main activity that we had been waiting for. We started the day at 6 am. The tour guide pick us up and other participants (total 7 people), and we started climbing since then. The climb was quite hard but we were told that it was actually the shortcut and way much harder back in the day when the Japanese built the track. We even saw tiny village up in the mountain with ruins of what used to be hotel, police station, school. It was amazing to see how they travel up and down back then in such a narrow steep track. We reached the top probably at around 9 am, we ate our food, and took photos from the 1000 m above the ocean. It was really worth it! and then went back down and arrived around 11 am. We survived the 6 hours no toilet rule!!!
DAY 10 - BACK to TAIPEI
The train from Hualien to Taipei only took us about 1.5 hour. We stayed in a hotel called Taipei Garden Hotel which was another splurge booked by my fiance. It is a 5 star hotel and we got to eat breakfast buffet everyday so we did not have to worry about waking up early to find breakfast, and we just started our day straight to exploring the city! As we arrived, we directly visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial museum. The entry was free and we got to learn a lot of things from the exhibition, the history of Taiwanese government, Chiang's way of leadership , family and so much more. We entered from the front gate of the memorial and got to see the ceremony held by the security / army personnel.
We went to Taipei 101, explored the food court and free samples from the sweets/cake stores. Really Taipei is big and has so much going on! As we blend in with the Taipei night life , we explored the night markets.
DAY 11 - 14 -> TAIPEI sightseeing and day trips
The next day we went for a day trip to the 2 very famous villages called Shifen and Jiufen, the place from movie Spirited Away. We took the PingXi line and arrived at Shifen. It was amazing. Where we got off, we directly experience the bustle in the market, the narrow street, and all the vendors stepped away from the railway when a train was approaching. We spent half the day there playing with the lantern and at the waterfall.
We tried to head back to Taipei at around 5 pm because we didn't want to miss any train or transport. At night when we went back to Taipei, we tried a very unique ramen with tomato-based soup.
On the last day, we decided to visit the tower of Taipei 101 and really witness the whole city from the 101th floor! We booked a ticket in Klook again (because it is cheaper than the price at the counter). To enter, we had to stay in the line for quite sometime, then we got into an elevator with other 10 people we it took us at a very high speed , up to the 99th floor. I felt sick but excited! When we arrived, it was great to see the whole Taipei, the Chiang's memorial. We even learned about the damper inside the building that is used to prevent the building from collapsing in case of earthquake.
Afterwards, we visited the Sun Yat Sen memorial hall, and just enjoyed for the last time our Taipei life, and of course some more shopping!
Exactly on day 14, we flew back to Sydney and completed our amazing 2 week holiday in the whole Taiwan island!!! This was my last Taiwanese meal :) Hope this inspires you for your next Taiwan visit!
Want to know more about the "MUST TRY" Taiwanese food? Check out my other post about The Best Food in Taiwan so you know exactly what to eat in your next visit!