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Taiwan Travel Part 2 | 環島第二個部分

March 27, 2023

I’m home for spring break and finally have time to upload more stories and photos from Taiwan. Enjoy!

Day 8: Taipei -> Sun Moon Lake

Returning to Taipei in the middle of our trip turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. I rested well and recovered a bit from my cold. We met up with our friend Michelle and set out on the second leg of our trip! Our first stop was Sun Moon Lake, a beautiful freshwater lake in central Taiwan known for its incredible scenery. There are three towns surrounding the lake, each a short boat ride away from each other. After dropping our stuff off at our hotel and a brief lunch, we spent the afternoon walking along the trail that circles the entire lake. It was lovely to be out in the sun and near the water. We eventually made our way to one of the three visitor centers around the lake and snuck in before they closed to get stamps for our stamp book. The visitor’s center had incredible architecture and was a great place to watch the sunset.

Along the lakeside path

Hannah and I with our friend Michelle

Sun Moon Lake rock marker

I thought the sun shining through the trees growing in the water was very beautiful

Sunset over the lake from the visitor's center

A dock with some lanterns-a beautiful night view

Day 9: Sun Moon Lake

We woke up early and saw one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. The water was like glass, and the mountains were purple against the colorful sky. After a late breakfast, we took a boat across the lake to Xuanguang wharf and did a hike up to the Ci’en pagoda which can be seen all around the lake. The view from the top of the pagoda was amazing—we could see the entire lake and beautiful mountains in the distance.

We took another boat to the next town called Ita Thao and enjoyed a few snacks for lunch. We then made our way to the nine frog stack, a relatively underwhelming, yet very famous sculpture along the lake. On most days, you can only see two or three frogs because the water covers the others. We enjoyed the late afternoon sun and then made our way back to the Ita Thao wharf to take the last boat back to our hotel, catching the sunset on the way.

Sunrise

Thrilled to be awake at 6 am :)

Ci'en pagoda

From the top of the pagoda overlooking Sun Moon Lake

Happy happy happy

Nine frog stack!

Path along the lake

Sunset from the boat

Hotpot dinner!

Day 10: Sun Moon Lake -> Chiayi

After a brief breakfast, we hopped on the bus back to Taichung and said goodbye to Michelle. We got lunch at the train station, and hopped on a train to Chiayi. Hannah had an essay to finish, so after dropping our stuff at our (very bad) hotel, we camped out in a coffee shop until dinner time. Chiayi has one of my favorite night markets in Taiwan, and I was excited to share it with Hannah (I’d visited before on an ICL trip). We had an incredible night market dinner and enjoyed chocolate and our show before heading to bed.

A cute statue I saw-I didn't take many photos this day

Day 11: Chiayi

The main purpose of visiting Chiayi was to see the southern branch of the National Palace Museum. After a lovely breakfast, we headed out to the museum which was about an hour away by bus. The museum campus was incredibly beautiful. The landscape almost felt midwestern—there was restored prairie and lots of small birds. The museum itself has very interesting architecture and is beautifully designed. In the museum, we saw some beautiful Buddhist scriptures written in gold ink on indigo dyed paper. The colors were stunningly vivid and truly unforgettable. I also saw some enameled candlesticks in the shape of ducks which made me laugh, and a beautiful Japanese ceramic water jar with a striking glaze on it. After making our way back to the city, we visited another cafe for Hannah to finish up her essay, and then revisited the night market. I got the fish head soup from the shop I visited last time I was in Chiayi, as well as the best banana milk I’ve ever had. It was so good that I actually went back to the stand to tell the lady how good it was.

Southern branch of the National Palace Museum

Buddhist scriptures

Duck candlesticks

Japanese water jar

Hannah with cotton candy!

The best banana milk in Taiwan!

Day 12: Chiayi -> Gaoxiong

We grabbed breakfast takeout on our way to the train station and caught our train to Gaoxiong. Our host allowed us to check in early, so we dropped off our stuff and then went on a bike ride around the lotus pond, the same route I did last time I was in Gaoxiong. We also checked out the Gaoxiong Museum of Fine Arts and the craft stalls at one of the piers where I was able to get some souvenir/gift shopping done. Later in the evening, we made our way to the Ruifeng night market which is easily the best night market in Taiwan. The market boasts over 1000 stalls, each with different things. We mainly focused on the food, and it was so good. Everyone in Taiwan always says the food in the south is better, and I didn’t understand what they were talking about until I ate at this night market. We got scallion pancakes (the best we’ve had), quail eggs, fried chicken, soup dumplings, meat skewers, taiwan sausage, and an incredible lime milk drink that was super refreshing. Hannah and I joked that it’s a good thing we discovered this night market so late in our time in Taiwan, otherwise it would have ruined all other night markets for us! The food was so good that it deserves its own feature outside of the food page.

Dragon and tiger pagodas

At the scallion pancake stand

Workers making the scallion pancakes

One lane of Ruifeng night market

Scallion pancakes

Quail eggs

Chicken skewer

Pan-fried soup dumplings

Garlic fried chicken

Pikachu!

Lime milk drink

Day 13: Gaoxiong

We decided to spend our day on Qijin, a small island off the coast of Gaoxiong. We took a five minute ferry ride over to the island and spent time walking along the beach. It felt so good to be near the water and out in the sun. We picked up some ubikes and rode around for a while before making our way back to the beach for sunset. Sadly, it was pretty cloudy so we didn’t see much. We met Wendy’s niece, Ray, for a lovely dinner of duck rice. Ruifeng night market was so incredible the night before, that we decided to go back for a late night scallion pancake snack. The scallion pancake stand was open, but the rest of the market was closed. It turns out the market isn’t open every day, so I’m glad we went when we did.

Cijin

Beach at Cijin

With Wendy's niece, Ray

Day 14: Gaoxiong -> Xiaoliuqiu

We slowly woke up and made our way to the bus station to catch a bus to Donggang harbor to catch a ferry to Xiaoliuqiu, a small island off the southwest coast of Taiwan. We narrowly made it onto the boat after hastily buying tickets from one of the staff. After the half hour boat ride, we arrived at the harbor and were greeted by our host, Qiqi. He was incredibly welcoming and kind, and helped us make all our arrangements on the island. We rented electric bikes to get around, and after dropping off our luggage, went out to explore the island. This was the first time I’d had my own independent transportation in Taiwan, and it was so nice to not be dependent on public transportation. Liuqiu is beautiful—we made several stops to look out over the coral rocks at the beautifully blue water. The island is also famous for its sea turtle population. There is a resident, year-round population of about 700 sea turtles, so they’re pretty hard to miss. We found a harbor at the southern tip of the island where we spotted our first sea turtle! It was so cute and very peaceful to watch gliding through the water. After sitting on a beach for awhile, we went back to our hostel to change and went to a very tasty Thai restaurant recommended by my friend before heading to bed.

Electric bike

A bit of a grey day, but the water was still beautiful

First of many sea turtle sightings!

Day 15: Xiaoliuqiu

We woke up nice and early to go snorkeling, a must-do activity on Liuqiu. The owner of the snorkel shop met us at our hostel and we followed her to the shop where we were given wetsuits and snorkels. Once we suited up, our guide took us to one of the beaches, and we went out into the reef. There was so much to see! I was particularly struck by the vibrant, multi-colored fish. I’d seen them in aquariums and pet stores, but not in their natural habitat. We basically saw the entire cast of finding nemo: several sea turtles, sea urchins, clownfish, soldier fish, sea slugs, puffer fish, and clams. Our guide was very knowledgeable about reef life, although we only understood a small portion of what he said since he didn’t speak English. He showed us a lot of really neat things, and took a lot of pictures for us.

My favorite sea turtle photo

Clownfish

Sea urchin

Under the sea

If you want to look younger, just put on a snorkel mask! We look like little kids which both of us find hilarious :)

Pre-snorkeling

Another turtle with lots of fish

After snorkeling, we visited a small cafe (also recommended by my friend) for lunch. We sat outside at a counter overlooking a coral rock beach and the ocean. I realized I’d left my sunglasses at the snorkel shop, and called to ask if they were there. The owner asked where we were and ended up bringing them to me at the cafe which was incredibly kind.

We spent the late afternoon paddleboarding on the south side of the island which was a lot of fun. We had a really kind guide named A-Cao who accompanied us up and down the shoreline as the sun set. He said most Taiwanese tourists are afraid of the water and usually more interested in taking photos than actually paddleboarding, so he enjoyed taking us out on the water since we mostly just wanted to paddleboard. After paddleboarding, we asked our host for a dinner recommendation, and he ended up treating us to dinner which was unexpected and very kind.

View from the cafe

On the coral rock

Sunset paddle boarding

At vase rock, a famous spot on the island

Paddle boarding buddies

With our guide, A-Cao

Day 16: Xiaoliuqiu->Beitou

We enjoyed snorkeling so much that we decided to go out one more time before heading back to the mainland. The sights were the same as the day before, but it was so neat, and truly unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I saw a fish riding on the current behind a turtle which was really cool. We picked up some turtle-themed souvenirs in the gift shop before catching the ferry back to Donggang. Xiaoliuqiu was one of my favorite places we visited, and very unforgettable. I was struck by the incredible kindness of all the people we met. I went to the Donggang fish market and got the tasty fish cakes I tried when I was there for ICL before we got on the bus back to Gaoxiong. We then took the high speed rail back to Taipei, stopped at the dorm, grabbed dinner at our favorite cafe, and took the MRT to Beitou, an area north of Taipei famous for its sulfur hot springs. We stayed in a hot spring hotel and soaked in our own personal hot spring before bed.

Another clownfish from our morning snorkel

With a type of hermit crab

On the ferry back to Donggang, refreshed from island life

On the high speed rail back to Taipei

Day 17: Beitou->Taipei

After enjoying breakfast, we did another soak in the hot spring before heading out to explore Beitou. We visited the thermal valley, a small art gallery, and the hot spring museum. Along the way, we found a lot of stamps for our stamp books. In the early afternoon, we went back into the city and enjoyed a much needed lunch with Wendy. I also went to meet one of my friends and see her for the last time before leaving Taiwan. That night, we enjoyed dinner with Wendy and Allen before heading back to our dorm to pack and prepare for Hannah’s family to fly in the next morning.

Thermal valley

Hot spring fountain

Pretty lanterns

Part 3 coming soon! Food and boba updates in their usual place.

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