Long time no see my friends. I definitely have been slacking with these updates. In my defense, the past month or so has been absolutely CRAZY! It just so happened that a bunch of our trips and other things occurred in quick succession. So this post will be a mini recap of what we have been up to since last time. In fact, this might actually be our last post, since we will be leaving Taiwan in less than a month…Ok maybe I’ll do one more.
Also, it seems there are quite a few friends from back home that will be attending the special convention later this year in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. So you can use this post as a little heads up for your upcoming trip!
Warning: lots of pictures incoming!
Ian + Taipei
To start this off, early March, our good friend Ian came to visit! After a week in Shanghai, he came here to Taichung, places that are polar opposites of Riverside.
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He was initiated into the scooter gang.
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Of course we had to take him to Feng Chia Night Market!
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Ian about to try “stinky tofu” for the first time. Spoiler alert: he hated it.
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If you come to Taiwan and find yourself at a night market, look for these black pepper pork buns (hujiao bing). They’re cooked in those barrel ovens. Pretty tasty!
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We also took a day trip to the city of Tainan, about two hours south of Taichung. Here we are at the Anping Tree House, a house that has been overtaken by banyan trees. Photo credit: Ian’s rad camera.
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Thanks to Gene for our Taiwan engagement photos!
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Checked out the Anping Fort in Tainan. It was…ok.
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We also went to Taipei. Here we are at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. If you guys visit Taipei, check this place out! It’s huge and really neat to see. PC: Ian’s cool beans camera.
Modern Toilet restaurant in the famous Ximending area of Taipei. It’s pretty much a toilet/poop theme restaurant. Food is mediocre and pricey, but you go for the gimmick…which is poop…and toilets.
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Ian blending in.
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Another must visit place in Taipei! Din Tai Fung! Yeah they have them in LA, but you have to try the Taipei one. The soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are SO GOOD! This place gets crowded very quickly, best to go at an off time like we did. Tip: If using Google Maps in the Taipei area to search for this place, you need to type “ding tai fung”, if you type “din tai fung” only the Taipei 101 store shows up. Better to go to the more popular one.
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Famous Taipei 101. Can’t miss it, as it’s literally the tallest building here. It costs about $400 NTD (about $12 USD) to go up to the observatory floor. I say it’s pretty worth it. You get to ride on a super fast elevator and get to see the entire Taipei landscape. But more often than not, weather isn’t always clear. Case in point, see below.
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Was pretty foggy, but still cool!
Kenting Trip
The first weekend of April was a national holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day), so we had time off from school! A group of us Californians took a trip to Kenting, the southern most part of Taiwan known for their beaches. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive.
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Road trip! Also, welcoming the Lees to Taiwan!
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It did not feel like we were in Taiwan! Looks like Hawaii, right?
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The infamous sea chariot. The guys in the back had it the worst! I think David’s arms are still shot from this, haha.
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Beautiful couples.
Hualien + Taroko Gorge
So we had planned to go to Hualien, a city in the east coast of Taiwan and about a 4-5 hour drive, while Ian was visiting us. Unfortunately, the weather was projected to be bad and some of the plans fell through, so we weren’t able to go while he was here (sorry Ian!). Since the Airbnb place we got couldn’t give us our money back as it was too late to cancel, I changed it to a later time. It just so happened to be the weekend after the Kenting trip. Back to back road trips!
By the way, I think Taroko Gorge and the Qingshui Cliffs is an absolute must visit while in Taiwan. It is absolutely stunning to see in person.
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On the drive to Taroko Gorge. From Taichung, we took the northern route, through Taipei, to get to the east coast. It’s about a 4-5 hour drive. You can also drive east through the mountains, however, it is quite dangerous as the roads get extremely narrow and winding. The drive up the mountains here was very hazy. Past that barrier is supposed to be the ocean.
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Obligatory picture with the sign.
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Pictures doesn’t do this place justice. Everything is just massive. You can see how enormous those boulders are compared to the people and cars along the road .
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A lot of the hiking trails, like this one to cross the bridge, requires permits. We didn’t have any so we just drove along the road and stopped at viewing points. If you want to hike some of the trails here, get a permit from their website and also check to see the trail will be open that day.
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The give everyone that comes into the Gorge a hard hat to wear because of falling rocks. But I’m too cool for helmets.
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A shot of Swallows Grotto.
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Here you can see how they cut into the mountain to build these roads.
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Again, pictures don’t do it justice. Seeing all of this in person was awe inspiring.
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About 15 minutes north of the Taroko Gorge entrance is the scenic view area for Qingshui Cliffs. This was absolutely amazing to see. If you go to Taroko Gorge, don’t forget to stop by and see this as well.
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We were rebellious and crossed the wall divider to get this shot.
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Visiting the Kavalan Whisky Distillery in Yilan.
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Barrels and barrels and barrels of whiskey!
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Free whiskey tasting!
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Kavalan’s Solist Vinho Barrique won the World’s Best Single Malt Whiskey Award at the 2015 World Whiskies Awards. This whiskey has been sold out EVERYWHERE in Taiwan. There is a 6 month waiting list. We had even called the distillery months ago to ask if they had any at but it was all sold out. Well…it just so happens they had some bottles when we visited! Of course we had to buy it.
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After Yilan, we went to Jiufen Old Street. This place is full of Korean and Japanese tourists, more so than usual. I think it’s because this place is mentioned in just about every single Korean travel guide for Taiwan and because the downtown area was used as a model in the famous anime movie Spirited Away. I, however, thought it was whatever. There are a lot of shops and eateries, but nothing too special.
Gaomei Wetlands in Taichung
We’ve been living here in Taichung for the past 8 months, but we really haven’t seen much of it. We decided to check out one of the destinations in Taichung, the Gaomei Wetlands.
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Very long walkway to see more of the flat nothingness.
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Doing my best imitation of a wind turbine.
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How far the walkway goes into the water/wetlands.
Memorial and Service
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Break time during service!
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To truly experience the Taiwan field ministry, you have to take a break at a Family Mart!
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Brother Lin is the coolest guy. During every Saturday morning field service break time, he buys everyone coffee. Seriously, every Saturday. Here he his delivering them himself.
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A picture with the speaker after the Memorial.
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On Sunday April 17, we had our “Imitate Their Faith” Circuit Assembly in Taichung. 15 were baptized, one of them from our congregation!
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The assembly was held at a high school auditorium. This was the nicest high school I’ve ever seen! They even have a huge koi pond!
So that brings us to now. We have 24 days till we leave Taiwan. We’ve already started to slowly pack and divvy out things we have accrued. Time to go home!
If you guys have any questions regarding Taiwan, ask away! We’ll be happy to answer to them. I think our final post will be about all the information we’ve gathered on Taiwan.
Thanks for reading!
—
Andy & Hannah