Taiwan’s Night Markets

Night markets. I would put them (the food oriented ones) as the top attraction in Taiwan (at least if you’re an European). In Kaohsiung we visited Rui Feng Night Market and Liuhe Tourist Night Market, with the former being our favorite. All sorts of seafood and variations, cooked on the spot. Fruits and fruit drinks. The ubiquitous pearl milk tea. Stinky tofu. Some.. weird combinations (pearl sandwich, ice cream tea). Continue…

Taipei’s Volcano

The bustling and vibrant capital of Taiwan. Ok, I promise I’m done with the cliche words. Yangmingshan Natural Park. We were actually heading for the National Palace Museum. After getting off the MRT (subway) and waiting for our bus, we noticed a long queue for another bus. We took ours, but meanwhile searched (eh, curiosity) for where that other bus was heading to. We found the destination in our guide, Continue…

Kaohsiung hike on Monkey Mountain

Shoushan – Monkey Mountain. This park is in (or just outside of, depending on your perspective) Kaohsiung. The popular trails feature wooden platforms in order to protect the thin fragile soil. We reached the ridge of the mountain, with great views over both the city on one side and the sea on the other. In a a couple of places we had viewpoint platforms installed. Here volunteers were carrying water Continue…

Kaohsiung and Cijin Island

Taiwan’s second largest city, Kaohsiung was our home for 4 days. Two things we noticed pretty fast. Even though it was January, so technically winter, we got sunny weather with up to 28 degrees C. Also, lots of scooters, lots of traffic, lots of pollution. Google gave me an alert on my phone. No wonder most scooter drivers were wearing masks. Went to the beach. Pretty deserted. Just us, some Continue…

The Ancient Trees of Alishan

Stayed in Alishan less than 24 hours. Still it seems we pretty much got to see everything (according to the leaflet we got at the visitor office). We got to Alishan by taking a mini bus from Sun Moon Lake. We went on a mountain road, winding up to over 2600 meters. Steep slopes barely allowing switchbacks. The 30 kmph speed limit seemed to be making fun of our little Continue…