The journey through Taiwan

Chiayi, our next stop is slightly further north on the map than Taichung. It can be reached by high-speed train in about 40 minutes. However, since we wanted to save some money in the long run, we inquired about a 10-day train pass. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bit difficult as English language skills are not available everywhere. After 1 hour of explaining, we finally got a student pass for these 10 days and paid about 35 CHF. The catch with the pass was that we could only travel with the local trains, which took about twice as long as they stopped everywhere. So we didn't arrive in Chiayi until 3:00 p.m., when the plan was for 12:00 p.m. So we couldn't make it to Alishan. We just explored the city a bit and had a cozy evening. The next day we continued to Tainan, where we visited Salt Mountain. We had a wonderful day in Tainan with our friends that we had met a few days earlier at the airport. After a night in Tainan, we continued to the east coast. However, since we could only travel with the slow trains, we had to rearrange our next few days. It took us about 9 hours to get from Tainan to Hualien. But the route was beautiful, so it was worth taking the train. We decided to stay in Hualien for two nights and take two day trips from there. The first one was to Ruisui, where we went on a river rafting tour. It was funny because we were practically the only non-Asian tourists there. Of course, everything was in Chinese and we had no idea what they were saying to us. The next day, we wanted to go hiking in the Taroko Gorge, which is known for its marble. We took the bus from Hualien to Tianxiang. From there, we had to walk along the main road for a while to get to the hiking trail. But when we finally found the junction, the hiking trail was unfortunately closed. So we had to walk the entire way back down the main road. After about 5 hours, we finally reached Taroko.

On the same evening, we continued to Dali, a small village in the north of the east coast. There was the so-called Honeymoon Bay and we just wanted to spend a day at the beach. But somehow, the bay was completely empty. There were only a few surfers there. But we still made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed the water. We spent the evening with the other people from the hostel and had funny and interesting conversations.

The next day we took the train for our final leg of the journey. We traveled to Taipei and were back at the starting point of our trip. In Taipei, we spent a total of 2 nights. On the day of arrival, we did some sightseeing by bike and visited the famous Taipei Tower 101, the tallest building in Taiwan. In the evening, we took a little detour to one of the many night markets. These markets are everywhere and are very popular with tourists and locals alike. You can get all kinds of stuff to eat there, especially street food.

The next day, we took the metro and bus to Cape Fugui, the northernmost point of Taiwan. There is a lighthouse in a very idyllic location. After that, we continued to Jinshan to visit some of the famous hot springs there. It was a bit strange because the temperature on that day was around 30 degrees Celsius and we went to the hot springs. In the evening, we headed to Keelung, a small port city northeast of Taipei. There, one of Taiwan's oldest night markets takes place every day. After some culinary experiments, we traveled back to Taipei.

And then, unfortunately, the time had come, our last day together had arrived. We spent the last hours strolling around the city. In the evening, I took Laura to the airport and had to say goodbye to her with a heavy heart. I miss you :) On this day, I was also able to move into my room in the shared apartment.

From then on, my adventure continued alone. I have been in Taipei for 17 days now, and I love the city. In the first few days, I just rested and lazed around. Every now and then, I was able to motivate myself for some small activities, but the heat and constant humidity were a bit challenging for me at the beginning. One day, I wanted to take a short walk along the river, but since there was no bus stop that I knew anywhere, the short walk turned into a 3-hour walk.

On the Thursday a week ago, the orientation day started. On this day, I got to know the other exchange students. Almost half of them are from Germany. After a brief tour of the campus, which they call small, the orientation was already over. The campus is supposed to be small, but I keep getting lost and have no idea where everything is. Thank goodness for Google Maps :) There is even a 7/11 (similar to Coop Pronto) and a total of 4 canteens on the campus. The AIA (a buddy group that shows us everything and helps us) has organized several trips for the next few days. One day, we spent by the sea in Fulong or in the port city of Tamsui, and right after the orientation, we went to Xiangshan, where you have a beautiful view of Taipei. But the climb is not easy, it's all uneven stairs, and then there's the humidity. But it's worth it, especially at sunset.

Monday was the first day of school, but of course, there was more information and no actual classes. The weather is a big topic here in Taiwan. This week, there were two typhoons heading towards the island. One hit the east and south with full force on Wednesday. In the north, we only felt the strong wind and heavy rain. The typhoon was supposed to have had wind speeds of over 200 km/h, a so-called super typhoon. On Friday, it was all over again, and the weather was beautiful. But don't rejoice too soon. There was still a second typhoon somewhere on its way. It didn't hit land, but it grazed the north, so it rained heavily in Taipei all day and the wind was also very strong. An umbrella is completely useless there, and my recommendation is to wear flip-flops because your shoes will get wet anyway. Ah yes, one more thing to say: the food here is simply divine. Cooking for yourself is almost more expensive than getting something at the night market, and I just love the dumplings and everything else. So here are some food photos too :)