2015 Oct 11-24
Nota: publicado en Inglés: vamos a
editar e incluir versión en español pronto.
Alan was familiar with the People’s Republic of China,
however neither of us had visited the Republic of China, or Taiwan, as it’s
more frequently called. Alan was to be
in Taipei for a week on business, and so we had a week prior to this to explore
the island, or at least make a foray to seek understanding as much as possible within
this short time. Marce had to return home for business after the first week, so
we made the most of this, and Alan focussed on his business in Taipei the
second week, leaving as early as possible.
We flew into Taipei from FRA via BKK, a 40 hour trip,
arriving downtown at midnight. One of our first tasks the following day was to
visit the Malaysian Friendship and Trade Centre (NOT an Embassy, given Taiwan’s
precarious diplomatic situation), so seek a visa from Malaysia, which involve extensive
explanation of why this was impossible to obtain by other means, given our
travel schedule. The staff were most helpful and issued the visa within a
couple of hours, very impressively. This out of the way, we started exploring
the city, discovering the wonderful food on every corner. Of course we enjoyed
visiting the temples, parks, and museums (musea?), as well as the Cloud Gate
Dance Theatre, however the food markets really delivered a marvellous treat:
- · Huaxi Night Market, Seoul
- · Shilin Night Market, Seoul
- · Wu Sheng night market, Tainan
- · Hung's Noodles (since 1895), Anping
- · The Flower Night Market, Anping
Additionally, Shinyeh, at the top of Taipei 101 provided a
memorable dinner.
We were in Taipei for a couple of days, then headed south to Tainan, renowned for its street food. We went to Anping to explore the Old Tait Merchant House and Banyan Tree House, and walked the old town, then back to Tainan to visit Swordlion Square, the Chihkan Tower, wander around the old city, visting the Confucian Temple, and ending up that day experiencing Old Lin's department store.
We then climbed the mountains to the Alishan Forest, taking the train to join lots of other visitors to walk though the famous woods.
We then headed north through the Yushan National Park, with vistas over the mountains, with the aim of driving to Yuchi where we would spend a night. The road was surprisingly deserted, except for bands of photographers taking shots of the sunset. We discovered why the road was quiet when we found that they close it every night at 1730h, so that we had to backtrack down to the main highway again and then ascend to Yuchi from the west.
NExT stop – back to Taipei so that Marce could fly home, and
Alan could get to the business which led us to this fascinating country.
Photos may be used for
non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com
