Taiwan, you may of heard of it?

Love seems to be a common theme here in Taipei and well with romantic views like this, even I'm feeling the love...

It seems that Taiwan was all I heard about when speaking with other travellers. Initially not on the radar as I was heading to Nepal, the heat and casual lifestyle was too much to resist!

The country was not what I expected, then again nowhere ever is. Taipei was my first stop, catching the bus from the airport and then on the train to find my hostel. Everything goes smoothly, but I get lost from my station to the hostel...this seems to be a reoccurring event and my backpack, even though I am continually getting rid of things is not getting lighter (I don't understand!!!). Eventually, I see a backpacker and take a punt they are heading to the same hostel, she is, and she has a map! The hostel is good, converted offices by the looks of it. Nothing matters to me except putting on shorts! (I'm excited!).

I'm still sick from the fever but meet a traveller that has some fever pills which have ingredients printed on the packaging, mostly paracetamol, so I gladly accept. It is amazing what drugs can do, they broke the fever. Along with the hot weather, I guess my body can better regulate. Anyhow...Taipei reminds me a bit of Seoul, it has easy transport and a western feel (as much as you can get in Asia). Everyone not Taiwanese seems to be teaching or trying to teach English and there is a lot of English speaking Taiwanese, in fact, it's been the best country for English so far.
The hostel is right next to the night market, a local (Hi Taylor!) from the hostel takes me to try chicken pie, Taiwan style. It doesn't even get started till about 9pm...

So Taipei is known for having what is now the second tallest building in the world (Dubai is now 1st). It's strange when you see the cityscape from a distance and there is this HUGE building amongst the rest. Strangely, Kaohsiung was the same with one behemoth of a building. Here is a pic of Taipei's, it is supposed to resemble a sword I believe...

So I was pretty slack in the photo dept for Taipei...I was sick..gimme a break and well it's beer drinking weather! But, in the end, I dragged myself out to have a look at Tamsui (Highly recommend if in Taipei). It's the port area for Taipei, which had a good atmosphere with boardwalk-style food shops and such (the first photos were taken there). It's also famous for its lover's bridge and sunsets To get there we had to do a bit of a walk through markets and shops. Here are some pics.. Look at the feet on this guy, he's giving Ronald McDonald a go for his money... I have just realised I didn't really take too many pics of the consulate building..that was boring anyhow, I'll give you some pics of Tamsui markets and streets walking to the port.. on the way back we found a night market for clothes, I needed some new shirts scooters line up for petrol

After more bumming around I decided that I should really move on and explore the country a bit, so off to Kaohsiung I go, all the way south. It takes 5 hours and costs $15 on the bus AND I get to watch a movie! I arrive at the hostel which is unmanned, but I proceed in and see a guy on a laptop "Hi, I booked a room"..the reply "Oh, I'm staying here too, Umm I think Jim is still sleeping hungover". Hmm, this is going to be interesting. So I decided to head out and let him get up (Btw it's like 12 noon) while I do some exploring. I head to the water. I see tour buses going up and down a stretch, so I head that way and find a temple along with an English consulate building. I think. Yes, more pics haha (I should warn you that this post will be picture intensive, even more than usual so maybe go and grab a drink, some dip, and crackers). I'm going to start off with Kaohsiung's behemoth of a building in the cityscape... On the way I got to see some boats at port, this was my favorite. You see I've been thinking of my next trip and I think that I will sail in an island-littered area, going from one tropical paradise to the next..ahh..now the boat
From here I stay two nights, first night I get blind drunk having gone to see a band and came back to tequila shots and sugar cane. I wake up the next morning in a dorm...but it's not my hostel and I can't remember a thing about how I got there...oops. Anyhow I head into a more central Kaohsiung hostel which is really good (Cozy planet hostel if you go, it's great). One time the next night I hear outside a tune being played quite loudly, it being very hot I immediately go to the window trying to spot the ice cream van, after asking the owner he explains that it is in fact the rubbish men. You see once a day the rubbish trucks come through and collect all the rubbish, when people hear the music they come running and dispose of the trash.

Oh, I need to backtrack a bit, before I left the other place I headed out to see monkey's again! Now if you have read earlier blogs on my luck with the finding monkeys (like in Japan) not being so great, you'll understand my desire to finally accomplish this task. I asked the hostel owner where they were, and he said they were very close giving basic directions to go here and read a street map so I felt confident that I could not fuck this up. So I head off with another traveller who I had warned of my previous attempts to see monkeys. So the directions are straight forward going to the tunnel and reading the map, then going up the hill (visible from the hostel) and you can't miss them.....I drag this girl along a mountainside for hours, slowly getting more and more jungle like with thin animal paths finally reaching a road we needed to 'improvise' to get to. So you can probably guess that I fucked up the unfuckable. Once on the road, we find out that it was the other side of the mountain that we walked past right at the start you needed to go to, now you probably know that my monkey en-devours usually actually end up with a monkey encounter but it's more like a slap in the face than the huge gangs of monkeys I want to see...this time was no different as on our dreary walk back I did come across a small family of them but I was not satisfied. Well anyhow the trek was interesting of sorts, here are some pics... Stray dogs, there are many We come across some deserted buildings in the middle of nowhere and the monkeys one gives me some bad looks when I make monkey sounds There was this small one hanging out in a great position watching the ocean, best seat in the house!

The Taiwan crossing man is the COOLEST crossing man ever! He doesn't walk...he struts! It is so freaking funny!

Ok, so the next country is Vietnam. It's going to take a few days to get my visa so I decided to head to the east coast where it's a bit more rural and untamed with a famous natural attraction Taroko Gorge...so why not. Off to Hualien I go, after 6 hours on the train this is what I see when I get off That's the train station there, the clouds are hanging at the peaks of the mountain range and I'm feeling like I'm truly in a tropical wonderland. So I proceed to get lost in the city but eventually found the hostel. I'm glad I went with the previous hostel's recommendation, the hostel feels...beachy (If you go, it's called munkeysurfers hostel, something like that) here is a pic . I'm going to save you the pics of the city but you can see them in the gallery if you really want to.

I organise to go see Taroko Gorge, well I get told to go here and buy a ticket for the bus. Because I was slack and slept in the first day I'm on a tight schedule for the trip (missing the first bus didn't help any) finally I get the bus and head there. I get dropped off at the famous 9 turns part of the gorge area to find it's closed... good start. I'm also just dropped off on a small windy road by myself, I start to wonder if my idea of walking the road myself instead of a tour was the right one. It works out to be fine and I make my way down the road taking pictures all over...the gorge is famous for being pure marble that has been eroded away as you may see with the pictures. Here are the gorge pics They had these hilarious signs all around..I giggled..then.. looked up and hurried..

Well, you made it!

I'm going to try to be a little more frequent as these blogs are getting way too long and I do forget some of the cool little things as time goes on. I am currently in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Blog coming soon! :p

I haven't figured out how to reply to comments, I do read them and appreciate them...just so you know you're loved..naww

S.